News 12 New Jersey
June 14, 2002

STATION:  NEWS 12 NEW JERSEY

DATE/TIME: 6/14/02       5:OOPM

LENGTH: 2:13

DELLA CREWS, ANCHOR:  If you’ve been down by the Passaic River lately, you know it’s not the cleanest spot in New Jersey.  Centuries of toxic waste dumping and other abuse have left the river a dirty, polluted place. But News 12 New Jersey’s Ally Bauder found out the government is working on a plan to get the Passaic River cleaned up.

ALLY BAUDER, REPORTER: That was then, this is now.  When Ella Fillipone was a girl the banks of the Passaic River were a charmed place.

ELLA FILLIPONE, PASSAIC RIVER COALITION: There was a beautiful restaurant in Kearny called O’Hara’s, and that was where people would go for Sunday dinner and get all dressed up.

BAUDER: Not any more.

US REP. BILL PASCRELL: The Passaic River is probably one of the most polluted rivers in this universe and any other.

BAUDER: Ella and the Congressman have gotten together with the EPA, the Army Corps of Engineers and other heavy hitters with a mind to clean up the waterway.

PASCRELL: There could be tremendous beauty and there also could be tremendous dirt and filth and pollution.

BAUDER: When industry hit New Jersey, so did pollution.  Companies that made Agent Orange for the government, along with tanneries and iron works, all dumped their waste into the river.  Fish, literally gasped for air, died by the ton, and wildlife left for greener pastures.

PASCRELL: I used to fish there a lot, and I wouldn’t dare fish there now.

BAUDER: The government’s commissioned a study and they’ve got the bigwigs in place.  So how long before we can really expect to see workers here hauling out the garbage and cleaning up the water? Best case scenario?  Army Engineers say eight years.

STEPHEN LUFTIG, ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY: …whether it’s taking down an old building or taking out some hot contamination from the river.  And while the completion of the whole Passaic cleanup may take many years, I think people should expect to see things happen quickly.

FILLIPONE: Spend the big bucks, but then have something that you can say ‘I am so proud that this river is clean again.’

BAUDER: Clean for us now and clean for the future.  In Newark, Ally Bauder, News 12 New Jersey.

CREWS: Congressman Pascrell says New Jersey taxpayers will probably foot the bill for the cleanup, but Pascrell intends to make sure that companies that polluted the Passaic River also shell out some money. It could cost millions, if not billions of dollars to return the Passaic to its early glory.