Bacteria Eating Bugs and Radium Jaw in New Jersey Superfund365 is all about New Jersey this week and will be for the next two more before heading to Pennsylvannia. But don't fret, we will return for a little more New Jersey later down the line. This state did not get the endearing nickname "armpit of the nation" for nothing and it does top off our list for most number of Superfund365 sites. Observations from Week Two: On Day 10 we visited Caldwell Trucking Co. in Fairfield, NJ. This site was particularly exciting because there were two humans spotted doing remediation work while we were there. One of the men told me that he has been working on the site for 5 years now but the cleanup has been ongoing for at least 8. They were not EPA but rather a third party hired by the Responsible Party, Caldwell Trucking I believe. The other man told me he was feeding the bugs (and then corrected himself and said bacteria) in the water because they will eat -- and thus help reduce -- the contaminants. This interests me a great deal so they gave me their supervisor's number to follow up with more questions (they had to get back to work and seemed a bit suspicious of me). Their work is to not only cleanup the site itself but try to stop the contaminants (mainly lead, TCE and chloroform) from seeping into the nearby Passaic River. The site is sandwiched between a residential home, ballroom and Latin dance school, metal and tool manufacturers and small airfield. I have been eagerly awaiting Day 13 to visit what used to be the U.S. Radium Corporation. Between 1915 and 1926, the U.S. Radium Corporation extracted and purified radium-226 from carnotite ore to make luminous paint for watches and instruments. This was the first large factory to produce glowing watches and they hired mostly women to paint them. The U.S. Radium Corp. would instruct the ladies to lick their brushes to create a fine-tip point for precision and the workers' absorption of so much radium caused what became known as "Radium Jaw." This horrible disease made women's jawbones deteriorate and spontaneously fracture. Their teeth would break and fall out and gums would ache with bacterial infections. By 1923, five young women from the Orange plant had died. In the later years, some developed bone cancers and there were more deaths. Though they put a stop to lip-pointing, the U.S. Radium initially tried to deny any connection between radium and illness. It was not until the 1960s that the production of radium finally ceased altogether. The EPA says that from 1915 through 1926, U.S. Radium processed 0.5 ton of ore per day and disposed all of it on-site, totaling to 1,600 tons of waste. Radon and its decay products are found in the air in concentrations considered excessive. In addition, radiation levels in areas around the property are greater than normal. Today the site is an empty lot in the middle of West Orange, a heavily populated and thriving community. School had just let out when I arrived and the buses and school children were everywhere. On the corner of the site is a blade barbershop that was bustling as well. There is no sign of heavy industry in the immediate area except across the street is one factory-like building that is now an occupational center. Perhaps that had once been a U.S. Radium building? I did make one wrong turn leaving and found myself smack in front of Thomas Edison's West Orange Laboratory, just two blocks from the site. It was here that Edison did his later work on motion pictures and improved upon his phonograph invention. It is a public museum but it is currently closed for renovations so the best I could do was poke my head through the gate and walk along the perimeter. The Diamond Alkali site in Newark, NJ, is the type of place I used to think of when I heard the word Superfund. It is in a strip of industrial wasteland between 280 and i95. The actual site looks abandoned and barren but numerous other plants and container companies populate this industrial zone and were in full swing when I stopped by. I mostly saw trucks driving in and out but a few people were walking along the street, probably just getting off their shift. There is Duralac Chemical Company, Chemical Waste Management of New Jersey and a Benjamin Moore Paint factory. I did not stay very long, especially having read that the EPA detected extremely high concentrations of dioxin on and off the site. The next day, on Day 15, I visited the Diamond Head Oil Refinery site in Kearny, NJ. I was looking out for a marsh or wetlands but instead I found a Wal-Mart! I double-checked the site's gps coordinates and I was in the right spot for sure. Maybe there has been a little development since the EPA wrote that description? There was not much vacant land that I could see -- across the street was a large postal facility and down the road a few businesses (including a great looking diner). When I found the Wal-Mart I was immediately reminded of a story I heard the night before from a woman in Stratford, CT. She moved to Stratford in May and weeks later she learned that a Superfund site is located just down the street (the site appears on Superfund365 on Day 40). How she found out (not from her realtor of course!) was when her husband went to the local Home Depot. He tried to buy some propane for their bar-b-que, but the sales person laughed and said they were not allowed to sell propane at that particular store because it was Superfund. I wonder how many big box stores go on top of Superfund sites, if that is a typical consequence or solution? Something to look into. Anyhow, I am jumping ahead to Day 40 and we are just beginning week three! I will be back with a summary in another week. Till then, Brooke Singer / Superfund365

Email Recap Index: Superfund365 Launches! Around NYC Bacteria Eating Bugs and Radium Jaw in New Jersey The 4th Anniversary Report More, More, More New Jersey Jimmy Hoffa's Grave, Sledding on E-Waste and a Lamb Named Snowball A Town Built on "Clean Fill," The Winning Raybestos Brakettes and Their Losing Field and Why Still No Ban on Asbestos? Senate Subcommittee Superfund Hearing A Scientific Study Brings out the Skeptics and, Please, Do Overwhelm Us with the Data! Copper Mining in Vermont -- It's Not All Maple Syrup and Fall Foliage Syracuse Green or Gross? University Students Take A Closer Look Supersized: The Longest Superfund Site (the Hudson River) Thanks to One of The Largest Companies in the World (General Electric)