http://www.nj.com/news/times/index.ssf?/base/news-2/1158898101284820.xml&coll=5H\
opewell
told cleanup to start next year
Friday, September 22, 2006
BY DARRYL R. ISHERWOOD

HOPEWELL BOROUGH -- As state officials scramble to determine if
contamination from Hamilton's former Mercer Rubber plant caused cancer
in hundreds of residents, another case of contaminated groundwater has
quietly simmered in nearby Hopewell Borough.

Residents of Somerset and La fayette streets in this placid borough
have been living with the knowledge that groundwater run ning under
their homes has been contaminated with Trichloroe thene (TCE) from the
former Rockwell Industries plant on Hamilton Avenue.
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According to state Department of Environmental Protection officials,
TCE levels as high as 400,000 parts per billion were found in the
groundwater near the former plant. The state cleanup standard for TCE
in drinking water is 1 part per billion.

To clean the water, beginning in 2007, consultants will pump millions
of gallons of groundwater from the underground aquifer and treat it in
a treatment plant before discharging it into a nearby stream. There is
no timetable for the completion of the cleanup, but an official form
the DEP said it will likely take years before the groundwater is clean.

Rockwell, which was involved in various machining operation that
included manufacturing taxi me ters, operated in Hopewell form the
early 1900s until 1975, before vacat ing the Hamilton Avenue site.
Kooltronic Inc. purchased the site and operated it until 2001, when
Rockwell repurchased the factory to begin the cleanup. It has since
been turned into an office complex called Hopewell Center.

As a result of the contamination, officials have also warned residents
that their homes may poten tially be contaminated by gas formed by the
TCE.

Consultants for the former manufacturer have begun testing the homes
on the roads bordering the former plant, including Somerset, Lafayette
and Elm streets for the gas, which may have seeped into their homes
through a process known as vapor intrusion.

As many as 18 homes have either been tested or will be tested, said
John Persico of Blasland Bouck and Lee, a private Cranbury
environmental consulting firm. So far, vapor removal systems have been
installed in three homes and the company has purchased two homes on
Somerset Street, rather than attempt to remediate them. Those lots, at
19 and 21 Somerset St., will be the site of a filtration plant
designed to clean the groundwater.

Levels of TCE in the vapor ranged from about 8 micrograms per cubic
meter to 50. The state standard for a safe amount of TCE in the air is
3 micrograms per cubic meter.

Last night, officials from the state Department of Environmental
Protection, state health department and Blasland held a pub lic
information session to inform residents of the cleanup of the area.

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Hopewell told cleanup to start next year
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State health officials assured residents that there is not a risk form
short-term exposure to TCE. Whether long-term risks exist, the
officials said, has yet to be determined. A study is under way, they
said. Officials did not give a timetable for the completion of the study.

About 50 residents and borough officials attended the meeting and many
had questions about how the cleanup will affect their lives. The
meeting became heated as some residents expressed concern about
property values in the area and how the cleanup would affect home
sales. Many came to demand that Rockwell purchase all homes on the
block rather than take years to remediate the area.
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"I put my house on the market in April and I had three buyers right
off the bat," said Brenda Goeke, a Somerset Street resident. "But once
they asked for my disclo sure, they didn't want it anymore. Are you
going to come to bat for me to help me sell my home? You're telling me
my property is all right, but it's not all right, it's going to take
50 years to clean up."

Harry Agin, who also lives on Somerset Street said he has TCE levels
of 73 parts per billion in a shallow well in his basement.

"I have lived here for 21 years and I have been breathing this for 21
years," he said. "Why would anyone want to buy my house? There is a
plan to get rid of the TCE down the street, there is a system to get
rid of the TCE in my basement and someone is going to want my house?"

The problem came to light in the late 1990s. Soil contaminated with
TCE and other chemicals and metals was discovered and removed from the
factory site and a vacant lot across the street. According to Persico,
removing the soil eliminates the potential for future TCE
contamination once the groundwater cleanup is complete.

The issue picked up steam in 2000 after residents on The Kings Path,
in nearby Hopewell Township discovered the water contamination. That
year the township connected the 14 homes on the road to the borough's
public water supply, which draws from wells outside the plume of TCE.

According to the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease
Registry, there is little indication that TCE causes cancer in humans.
But exposure to the chemical can cause respiratory and heart diffi
culty as well as central nervous system and liver problems.

State environmental and health officials have been dealing with po
tential contamination of air and water from the former Mercer Rubber
site in Hamilton. That site operated for more than 130 years in the
township and residents fear that what they perceive as high levels of
cancer in the neighborhoods around the plant are a result of the
contamination.

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