FAIRFIELD — Local and federal officials gathered Friday to announce "significant progress" in the decade-long cleanup of one of North Jersey's most contaminated sites.
The site was once home to Unimatic Manufacturing Corp. which used polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) from the 1950s to the early 2000s as part of it metal-molding operations. The cancer-causing chemical eventually polluted soil and groundwater at the site on Sherwood Lane.
The property was added to the federal Superfund list of the nation's most polluted sites in 2014. At a news conference Friday, officials celebrated the completion of a major phase of the cleanup, the excavation and removal of contaminated soil from the land.
The work is not complete however. The last few steps include sediment cleanup and groundwater monitoring, according to Stephen McBay, a spokesman for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Unimatic is located in an industrial and residential area between the Willowbrook Mall in Wayne and Essex County Airport in Fairfield. The business operated on the 1-acre site from 1955 to 2001.
Lubricating oil used in its manufacturing contained PCBs, which were discharged through its wastewater pipes and eventually reached groundwater, sediments and soil.
Work to remove the building and remediate the property began in 2022, eight years after Unimatic was added to the Superfund site list. It was aided by $30 million in federal funding in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law that passed Congress in 2021, U.S. Rep. Mikie Sherrill said on Friday.
More: Why the EPA expedited the design of cleanup plan for a polluted part of Passaic River
"I've heard from residents and local leaders at the time about the need for federal funds and support because we couldn't put the burden of paying for this critical site on the back of taxpayers or municipal budgets," Sherrill, a Democrat representing the 11th Congressional District, said at the news conference.
The next phase of the project will focus on groundwater monitoring and sediment cleanup. The EPA will monitor for contamination downstream at Deepavaal Brook and surrounding wetlands.
"Once the cleanup is complete, the EPA will restore and replant this area," EPA Regional Administrator Lisa Garcia said. Asked about the potential to redevelop the property, McBay said there were no particular plans as of yet.
"The remediation and cleanup efforts have made a huge impact on the lives and health of Fairfield families and will continue to improve quality of life for Garden State families," Sherrill added. "All of our kids deserve to grow up with access to clean water drinking water, fresh air, and open spaces."
Email: NFlanagan@gannett.com
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Decade-old Superfund cleanup in Fairfield passes milestone. What's next at Unimatic site?
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