Booker, Menendez Announce $438 Million in Funds Headed for Contaminated Site Clean-ups in New Jersey

Press Release

U.S. Sens. Cory Booker and Robert Menendez announced that $438 million in funds have now been disbursed for clean-up of two New Jersey Superfund sites, as a result of a historic environmental settlement reached with Anadarko and Kerr-McGee. The funds will go toward paying for past and future clean-up work at the Welsbach Superfund site located in Camden and Gloucester City, New Jersey and reimburse the federal government for substantial clean-up costs at the Federal Creosote Superfund site in Manville, New Jersey.

"Too many New Jersey families live in proximity to these severely contaminated Superfund sites," said Sen. Booker, who along with Sen. Menendez, introduced the Superfund Polluter Pays Restoration Act of 2014. "That's why the Superfund program is critical to New Jersey and why Congress needs to hold companies accountable for cleaning-up after years of irresponsible practices. Taxpayers should not be financing the clean-up of a mess they did not create, and no one should have to live or work near such hazardous sites."

"Industry cannot contaminate our land, exploit our resources and endanger our communities without consequence," said Sen. Menendez. "Making polluters pay is essential to protecting the health of our families and our environment without overburdening average hard-working taxpayers, who shouldn't be the ones paying for the mistakes of those who caused the problem in the first place. Every New Jerseyan has a vested interest in doing all we can to make the Superfund Trust Fund as solvent, strong, and effective as possible. "

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