DuPont's Pompton
Map of other side of train racks behind the the houses across the street in Pompton. Dupont processing for transportation and on the spot manufacturing of products like (find out exactly) and this was going on for decades before we lived there. See how the RR tracks go down between the warehouses. Dupont plant is above that area.
This is where people lived and continue to live on this map top left corner on after the bend. This is the section that connects to the RR Yard/manufacturing wharehouses in the map above.
I think this is where they made the Ethyl for the leaded gas in the 50s. Lots of lead and mercury in the ground. Funny the stream at the end of the street is called Acid brook and goes into the lake. Tetrachloroethyene and Trichloroethyene. This is so bizzare I can hardly get it.
Actual News article: I have seen pics of barrels dumped. I saw the ground and water figures, gotta pinpoint these wells, their maps are messy and hard to figure.
There was a big court case millions were paid. Adults and especially to the kids sick or not in that area shared w/$. Erin Brockovitch is the lawyer.There is a class action suit going on now.
Page 2 says this:
"The Health Department strongly urged residents to have the vapor venting systems installed.
“This is a preventable form of exposure, and we strongly support having venting systems installed,” Fagliano said.
He described the studies as the first step in what could be a longer process of analysis. However, the small number of residents involved makes it unlikely the department would conduct further analysis to determine for sure whether the chemical vapors are the direct cause of the elevated cancer levels. To make such a conclusive study, the state would need a much larger sample size, Fagliano said.
“This is a very small community,” he said. “It’s unlikely there would be any advantage to do additional investigation. We’d get no meaningful findings.”"
Here's how the story broke. Notice the Mayor is named Romain...the name of the street along the railroad tracks.
Another map here that shows the area.
They first tested the area in 1984 officially. This is for the water.
This is the whole run down from Dupont: Shows high level of mercury and lead right at top layer of ground.
Here's the current and past lawsuit history and more info.
Here's some of the above...."Because a substantial amount of lead and mercury migrated off the site, soil was contaminated at approximately 140 homes near Acid Brook, which drains the eastern valley and discharges into Pompton Lakes."
Makers of A bombs just a short way by. the water systems are connected but Brookfield in down stream. This place used to have a drainage pipe that went into the storm sewers for the town. I am not kidding... It floods pretty bad all the time in New Jersey.
n 1985, the radiological condition of Sheffield Brook was characterized. One year later, the Pompton River was characterized at its confluence with Sheffield Brook. Contaminated soils in the floodplain and stream channel of Sheffield Brook were removed between Pompton Plains Cross Road and Farmingdale Road. Excavation along the area between Farmingdale Road and the Pompton River was completed in 1987.
http://www.nukeworker.com/nuke_facilities/North_America/usa/DOE_Facilities/FUSRAP/FUSRAP_Site_Specific_Information.htm This link is no longer on the site...am investigating for a new link.
Someone who lived and worked in the areas story: tells some interesting story.
Here's the run down from the attorneys ...just close the pop-up.
Here's what my new FB friend said in the article above.
“As a longtime resident since 1962 I have seen too many people become ill and unfortunately some are no longer with us,” said Lisa Riggiola, a former Pompton Lakes councilwoman and founder of Citizens for a Clean Pompton Lakes, a neighborhood advocacy group. "It’s a serious situation that we’re living in and hope for the best outcome in the near future. After two decades of promised cleanup, we still reside in a toxic mess.”
Like what can all that do to someone.
1) Learning disabilities
2) damage to kidneys and liver
3) Nervous and nuerological damage
4) Problems with blood
5) DNA damage
6) cancer risk
7) a chemical factory for God's sake.
Mercury:
Lead:
Potential Health Effects of--- cis 1,2-dichloroethylene:
Inhalation may cause central nervous system depression with
dizziness, confusion, incoordination, drowsiness or
unconsciousness; or tremors, nausea, vomiting, weakness, and
abdominal cramps. Other effects may include irregular heart
beat with a strange sensation in the chest, "heart
thumping",apprehension, lightheadedness, feeling of
fainting, dizziness, or weakness.
Skin contact may cause severe irritation with burning,
redness, swelling, pain or rash.
Eye contact may cause severe eye irritation with tearing,
pain or blurred vision.
6501FR
Du Pont
Material Safety Data Sheet
Page 2
Printed on 03/12/2010
Ingestion may cause pulmonary edema (body fluid in the
lungs) with cough, wheezing, abnormal lung sounds, possibly
progressing to severe shortness of breath and bluish
discoloration of the skin: symptoms may be delayed.
Ingestion may also cause pathological changes in the liver,
central nervous system depression with dizziness, confusion,
incoordination, drowsiness or unconsciousness, and
structural (pathological) changes in heart muscle tissue.
""and (from above)
structural (pathological) changes in heart muscle tissue""
I have a propolapsed heart valve (floppy) which accompanies Antiphospholipid which I also have...
VERY INTERESTINg that Dupont is the maker of the drug that thins my blood and has done a lot of major studies on Antiphospholipid and propolapsed mitrial valve.
The title of this is:
Residents of DuPont Factory Town Drop Like Flies (Pompton)
A history of DuPont in Pompton Lakes
A timeline of the DuPont Pompton Lakes works from Google.
SITE HISTORY - E.I. DUPONT POMPTON LAKES WORKS 1802 to 1926
Date Event
1802
E.I. Dupont found by Eleuthere Irenee Du Pont.
1886
H. Julius Smith builds spark-fired blasting cap (filled with mercury fulminate) plant one-half mile from PLW entrance.Dam build across Wanaque River creating Lake Inez.
1888
American Manufacturing and Supply Company, Ltd. built black powder mill on present Du Pont PLW site.
1891
Black powder mill sold to Metallic Cap Manufacturing Company, who dismantled the mill and built a plant to load caps.
1894
American Smokeless Powder company purchased land from H. Julius Smith and built a smokeless powder plant (known as the Haskell Plant) on the west side of Lake Inez.
1898
Haskell Plant purchased by Laflin & Rand.
Explosion at Haskell Plant and severly damaged.
Laflin & Rand purchased additional land from Smith and built a new plant having a daily capacity of 6000 pounds (lb) of smokeless powder and 1000 lb of gun cotton.
1902
Du Pont acquires control of Laflin & Rand Powder Company.
Electric Exploder company (owned by Du Pont) began operations at the newly constructed plant on the west side of Lake Inez.
1906
James Macbeth and Company cap plant moved to Pompton Lakes from Jamaica, New York, and became part of Du Pont's Electic Exploder Company. The consolidation resulted in plant emplotment of 155 workers and production of 35,000 E.B. caps per day.
1907
Du Pont acquired Metallic Cap Manufacturing Co. and property (now the center of the PLW site.)
1908
Du Pont purchased Smith Electric Fuse Co. and moved plant equipment to the Electric Exploder Co. plant on the west site of Lake Inez. This became known as Du Pont Fuse Works.
The old Metallic Cap Manufacturing Co. plant became the Du Pont works.
1917
Du Pont produces huge quantities of powder for World War I Allies. Work force at Cap and Fuse works increases to 7500 employees.
November, 1918
Production capacity:
1.5 MM ordinary blasting caps,
60 M electric blasting caps,
4.5 M lb of mercury fulminate,
200 M detonating fuses,
40 M boosters,
100 M primers,
100 M tracer and incendiary bullets, and
An unknown quantity of hand rifle grenades.
Housing boom occurs, many homeowners converted residences to rooming houses for workers. Du Pont built a dormitory colony (near the current site of Pompton Lakes High School).
1926
Du Pont discountinued operations on the west side of Lake Inez and consolidated with the current plant site on the east side of the lake.
DuPont is one of the oldest continuously operating industrial enterprises in the world. The company was established in 1802 near Wilmington, Delaware, by French immigrant Eluethere Irenee DuPont de Nemours to produce black powder and he quickly established a reputation for superior gunpowder.
The history of DuPont's Pompton Lakes site as a national center for the manufacture of explosives began in the 19th century when H. Julius Smith was granted the first patent on June 23, 1868 for a spark-fired blasting cap filled with mercury fulminate. Smith joined the Laflin & Rand Powder Company at Wayne, New Jersey as a master mechanic in 1874 and experimented with a gold and foil bridge circuit for E. B. Caps. In 1886, he left Laflin & Rand and built a cap plant on Cannonball Road, approximately one half mile from the current DuPont entrance. He built a dam across the Wanaque River creating Lake Inez, named for his daughter.
DuPont began manufacturing explosives at the Pompton Lakes Works site when it acquired Laflin & Rand in 1902. That same year, the Electric Exploder Company, owned by DuPont, began operations at a newly constructed plant on the west side of Lake Inez.
When the United States entered into World War I in 1917, huge quantities of gunpowder were manufactured for the Allies by Pompton Lakes Works. Employment was increased from 300 to a wartime high workforce of more than 7,500 employees who were involved in producing blasting caps, detonating fuses, boosters, primer and an unknown quantity of hand and rifle grenades. The impact of DuPont's wartime production on local communities was dramatic, and Pompton Lakes became known as a "company town". A housing boom occurred, and many homeowners converted their residences to rooming houses for workers. To further satisfy housing needs, DuPont built a dormitory colony near the current site of the Pompton Lakes High School, in the area of DuPont Village and along Romain Avenue and parts of Colfax Avenue. The current Pompton Lakes Salvation Army building is an extension of one of the dormitories.
The Pompton Lakes Works was a vital production center supporting World War II as well. Workers were transported by bus loads from Jersey City, Elizabeth, Paterson and New York state increasing employment to more than 3,000. Production activities included massive quantities of blasting caps, all types of military detonators and fuses, rocket igniters and pull wire detonators.
With the end of World War H and the beginning of a new decade, the 1950's brought additional development in manufacturing and plant expansions would continue for three decades. In response to the international economic shifts in the 1980's, the company began downsizing its workforce. As a result of a series of divestitures and economic fact, manufacturing at the Pompton Lakes Works ceased April 1, 1994.
**********************************
E.I DuPont De Nemours & Company manufactured explosives on this 570-acre site at the north end of Pompton Lakes, New Jersey from 1902-1994. Land use in the vicinity is primarily residential and commercial, but also includes undeveloped areas, an interstate highway (Route 287) and state-owned forest. Cleanup of the facility is required under a New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) order, NJDEP ground water permit and an EPA permit.
Waste management practices during the facility’s operation resulted in contamination of surface water, soil and sediment, and ground water both on and off site. Wastes disposed of on site included lead salts, mercury compounds, explosive powders, chlorinated solvents, waste wire drawing solution and detonated blasting caps. Primary contaminants in the soil and sediments are lead and mercury. ground water contaminants include volatile organic compounds which are potentially harmful contaminants that can cause vapor intrusion to indoor air. Lead and mercury releases have migrated off site resulting in soil contamination at 140 homes near Acid Brook, which were remediated. Contaminated ground water also migrated off site with the potential for vapor intrusion from contaminated ground water impacting off-site residences.
Remedial actions at the site are focused on investigating and cleaning up the area. Much of the soil contamination has been removed and a ground water pump and treat system has been installed. ground water monitoring is continuing at the site and in the interim DuPont will be installing vapor mitigation systems at residences within the ground water plume and further assess ground water plume/vapor intrusion delineation.
