PATERSON — Workers for the Environmental Protection Agency are ready to start removing asbestos and lead contamination from factory ruins at the Great Falls national park on June 2.
Federal officials acknowledged the risks involved in the $4 million environmental cleanup project in notices the EPA distributed during the last week of May for people who live near the site.
“These contaminants have the potential to spread as the structures break down and material becomes airborne,” the federal agency warned.
The EPA included in the notices details of its safety plan. But some community leaders and activists said the agency should have let residents know what steps they should take to protect themselves.
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David Soo, a historic preservation activist who lives close to the contamination, said residents have received no information on whether it’s safe to keep the windows in their homes open during the work or if residents need to wear masks when they go outside.
“I have a six-month-old baby in the house, and she doesn’t need to be exposed to asbestos,” Soo said.
EPA will take air samples
The EPA said it would be taking air samples around the perimeter of the site as the work takes place and directed residents to an agency webpage where they can view that data: response.epa.gov/allied textileprintingrv3.
“I would like the EPA to do a better job of community outreach,” said Bob Guarasci, head of the New Jersey Community Development Corporation nonprofit organization located near the Great Falls. “I think residents have reason to be concerned when they receive notices saying they could be exposed to hazardous substances.”
The first step in the project is the removal of a portion of a 118-foot-high smokestack which the EPA says is “unstable, leaning, and at risk of collapsing.” The smokestack danger needs to be addressed, officials said, before anyone can go among the ground-level ruins and remove the contamination.
Drone image of the former Colt Gun Mill site near the Great Falls in Paterson, NJ on Wednesday, March 10, 2021.
The plan is for a worker wearing a protective suit and respirator to rise to the top of the smokestack in a “manlift,” or aerial platform, to remove the bricks, one by one.
The bricks will be taken to ground level through a fabric chute to prevent dust from spreading in the air, the EPA said. The bricks will then be stacked at the site and tested multiple times to see if they are contaminated, or safe enough to remain at the ruins.
Throughout that work, federal officials said the crew will spray the smokestack and surrounding area with water to prevent contamination from going airborne.
Once the top half of the smokestack is removed, an engineer will check the remaining portion to determine if it’s stable enough to remain in place or also needed to get taken down, officials said.
The EPA has not released any timeframe for how long the cleanup will take. The contamination has delayed the opening of a $7.9 million expansion of the Great Falls national park because the new recreation area is directly next to the tainted ruins. The park expansion was finished last September.
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Feds ready to start $4M cleanup of asbestos near Great Falls