What is the background of the Helen Kramer Landfill site?
BACKGROUND
The Helen Kramer Landfill is an inactive landfill in Mantua, New Jersey. From approximately 1963 to 1981, the 77-acre site was used for the disposal of municipal garbage and industrial waste. The State of New Jersey revoked the landfill registration in early 1981, and on March 3, 1981, a New Jersey state court ordered the landfill to cease operations.
On September 8, 1983, the Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA") placed the Helen Kramer Landfill on the National Priorities List ("NPL"), a list of the nation's most threatening hazardous waste sites. It now ranks fourth on that list. 42 U.S.C. § 9605(a); 40 C.F.R. Part 300, Appendix B.
Pursuant to section 104 of CERCLA, 42 U.S.C. § 9604, EPA conducted a Remedial Investigation and Feasibility Study ("RI/FS") from July 1983 until September 1985 to investigate contamination at the Site, at an alleged cost of over $ 2 million.
On October 16, 1989, plaintiff filed a complaint against 22 defendants, asserting claims under section 107 of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), 42 U.S.C. § 9601 et seq. The Complaint was amended on May 8, 1990 to name additional defendants and change the language regarding the declaratory judgment sought. The First Amended Complaint ("Am.Comp.") names 29 defendants and seeks: (1) a judgment against all defendants, jointly and severally, for all response costs6 incurred by plaintiff at the Site (alleged to be already at least $ 4.6 million);7 (2) a declaratory judgment that defendants are jointly and severally liable for all future response costs arising from releases and threatened releases of hazardous substances8 at the Site, pursuant to section 113(g)(2) of CERCLA, 42 U.S.C. § 9613(g)(2); and (3) an award of attorneys' fees and costs.
The amended complaint alleges, among other things, that the 16 defendants whose affirmative defenses are at issue on this motion are liable under section 107(a)(3) of CERCLA, 42 U.S.C. § 9607(a)(3), as persons who arranged for disposal or treatment, or arranged with a transporter for transport for disposal or treatment, of hazardous substances at the Site, within the meaning of section 107(a)(3) of CERCLA, 42 U.S.C. § 9607(a)(3). The complaint alleges that defendants are jointly and severally liable to plaintiff under section 107(a) of CERCLA, 42 U.S.C. § 9607(a).
On November 20, 1990, 13 defendants9 filed a third-party complaint on behalf of themselves and all other defendants in this action,10 naming more than 250 defendants, including 17 local governments. The third-party complaint seeks contribution pursuant to section 113(f) of CERCLA, 42 U.S.C. § 9613(f), and asserts that plaintiffs "have a right of contribution . . . against each and every generator, transporter, owner/operator, and all such persons referenced in § 107(a) of CERCLA." Third-Party Complaint at 9. Some of the local government authorities named are alleged to have contributed "large amounts of liquid sewage sludge containing hazardous substances and properties [to] . . . the Helen Kramer Landfill," including "inorganic chemicals, metals, and organic constituents that are hazardous substances, and have, among other things, significantly caused and/or contributed to the high chemical oxygen demand ("COD") and excessively large amounts of methane gas prevalent at the site." Id., § VI, p. 60.11 Other local governments are named as generators of "large amounts of municipal and industrial wastes containing hazardous substances [which] were transported to and disposed of at the Helen Kramer Landfill." Id., § VII, PH, pp. 63-64.12
From: https://www.elr.info/sites/default/files/litigation/21.20879.htm
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21 ELR 20879 | Environmental Law Reporter | copyright © 1991 | All rights reserved United States v. KramerNo. 89-4340(JFG) (757 F. Supp. 397) (D.N.J. February 8, 1991)
And from the Environmental Resource Inventory for the Township of Mantua, APPENDIX E: A Description of Superfund Sites in Mantua Township p. 107, March 2005: The Helen Kramer Landfill Superfund site encompasses a 66-acre refuse area and an 11-acre previously stressed vegetation area. The site is adjacent to a stretch of Edwards Run, a tributary to Mantua Creek. Centre City is the nearest residential community approximately 1,200 feet east of the site. The Helen Kramer Landfill was originally operated as a sand and gravel pit; and became a landfill in the mid-1960s. Many different waste types were deposited on the site, such as municipal waste, septage, industrial wastes (such as sludge, waste oils, solvents, chemical intermediates, pesticides, plastics, acids and bases, heavy metals, paints, and pigments), and hospital wastes. Most industrial wastes were disposed of directly into the landfill, not in containers. It is estimated that several million gallons of chemical wastes and over two million cubic yards of solid waste were disposed of at the Helen Kramer Landfill. The waste is more than 50 feet deep in most areas. The United States Environmental Protection Agency reports that very little is known about the Helen Kramer Landfill operations and practices between 1965 and 1970, prior to the New Jersey Solid Waste Management Act. In 1974, NJDEP acquired new regulatory authority to monitor and restrict hazardous waste disposal in landfills. Subsequently, DEP personnel observed leachate discharged into Edwards Run and ordered the landfill to desist in disposing of hazardous wastes, but municipal and household wastes, including septage, were permissible. NJDEP reports that sporadic chemical dumping continued between 1974 and 1981, though Helen Kramer was not an approved hazardous waste facility. In 1977, Helen Kramer’s landfill registration was revoked. Agency hearings on the revocation continued until 1981, after which the landfill ceased operation under judicial action. Over the course of a few years, EPA, NJDEP, the Gloucester County Health Department, and private engineering consultants conducted many environmental studies on the site contamination and found that a portion of the Mt. Laurel/Wenonah aquifer, immediately under the site’s soil surface, was contaminated with organic and inorganic pollutants. Additionally, Edwards Run was contaminated with organic and inorganic pollutants. Such contaminants are toxic and mutagenic to living organisms. Volatile organic compounds were found in the ambient air on and near the site. Fortunately, the Marshalltown aquifer that supplied drinking water to private residences was not contaminated at the time. In September 1983, the Helen Kramer Landfill was added to the National Priorities List and became a Superfund site. EPA began a remedial investigation and feasibility study in 1984 to determine contamination and select a remediation strategy. EPA performed a risk assessment to determine the impact of the landfill on public health and the environment. Airborne contaminants, proven to be carcinogenic, were found in amounts above the recommended levels in and around the site. Several contaminants in Edwards Run were found to exceed water quality standards developed prior to the Clean Water Act. Even today, leachate entering Edwards Run continues to render the stream unusable for its designated use as an FW-2 Non-Trout Surface Water. In 1985, EPA selected a remediation plan for the site that included the construction of a clay cap over the site, excavation of the lagoons and leachate ponds, construction of a slurry wall, construction of a groundwater/leachate collection trench, disposal of groundwater/leachate for treatment at the Gloucester County Utility Authority, construction of a gas collection and treatment system, construction of a security fence, and the implementation of a long-term monitoring program extending beyond EPA’s remediation activities. After the lagoons were drained and excavated, a six-layer cap, which enabled dangerous gases and liquids to be collected and treated, was built over an area of approximately 81.5 acres. As part of the operation and monitoring phase, 13 groundwater monitoring wells were installed around the perimeter of the site. An extensive system of groundwater and leachate pumps, collection basins, air filters, and underground slurry walls were built that reduced groundwater flow in the Mt. Laurel/Wenonah aquifer. NJDEP was responsible for the operation and maintenance phase from 1995 to 1998 after which EPA determined that the remedial level was met. NJDEP continues to be responsible for long-term monitoring. Under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA), EPA sued 30 potentially responsible parties for reimbursement of costs incurred while cleaning up the Helen Kramer Landfill. The case was settled in 1998; the responsible parties agreed to reimburse the United States $95 million and New Jersey $8.6 million for past and future cleanup costs. The responsible parties also filed suit to identify over 200 third parties who also engaged in waste disposal on the site. The Helen Kramer Landfill, as well as the Lipari Landfill, remains on the National Priorities List as sites that did or could threaten human health. |