New Jersey Reaches $4.5 Million Settlement with Hercules over Gloucester County Chemical Waste Site
TRENTON — The New Jersey Attorney General's Office announced a $4.5 million settlement with Hercules LLC over environmental damage at a former chemical waste site in Gloucester County. Under the consent order announced Oct. 5, Hercules will pay to settle a lawsuit the state filed in 2007 on behalf of the Department of Environmental Protection, covering an approximately 350-acre site in the Gibbstown section of Greenwich Township as well as three sites in Morris and Middlesex counties.
As part of the deal, Hercules will permanently preserve more than 110 acres at the Gibbstown site for watershed protection and aquifer recharge, with approximately 535 acres receiving similar protection at two of the North Jersey sites. The consent order states Hercules does not admit fault or liability for any of the state's allegations.
The settlement is intended to compensate New Jersey for environmental harm allegedly caused by hazardous-substance and contaminant discharges, according to the state. Hercules acquired the Gibbstown site in 1952 from DuPont, which had used it as a dump site for lead fragments and tar. Hercules used the Delaware River site near North Market Street to dispose of chemical waste from chemicals and munitions production; structures on the property were demolished after the complex closed in 2010. In 2020, Hercules agreed to pay more than $11.3 million for environmental cleanup costs at the site.
The state said Hercules has previously worked under its direction to consolidate and cap tar waste at the site to reduce long-term exposure, and has agreed to monitor the site and restrict groundwater use near the disposal area.
Sources: New Jersey Attorney General's Office; Courier Post (Oct. 6 report)
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：新泽西州议会大厦金色圆顶（特伦顿）。公有领域，来源：Wikimedia Commons
