American Cyanamid Superfund site breached by floodwaters

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9/4- BRIDGEWATER — The chemical lagoons at the American Cyanamid Superfund site were breached by hurricane floodwaters, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reported.

The lagoons have been seeping carcinogenic benzene 20,000 times regulatory levels all year into the Raritan River, according to the EPA, which has collected samples of floodwaters from the 400-acre site. Results should be known soon, spokesman Elias Rodriguez said.

The site is owned by Wyeth, a subsidiary of pharmaceutical giant Pfizer. Environmentalists have been calling on Pfizer to work more diligently to clean up the site, especially now that those floodwaters might have contaminated the township and neighboring Bound Brook, an environmentalist said.

“USEPA must act immediately and take over this investigation and clean up in order to protect the families of Central Jersey,” said Robert Spiegel, executive director of Edison Wetlands Association, the environmental organization that discovered the lagoons’ benzene leak.

http://www.mycentraljersey.com/article/20110905/NJNEWS/309040011/American-Cyanamid-Superfund-site-breached-by-floodwaters