Environmental

Investigation & Remediation

This site was first developed 125 years ago by the New Jersey Zinc Company, the major zinc smelter in the United States.

The process generated heavy metal pollution in the surrounding soils, surface and ground waters. Environmental investigation and remediation was identified to be required after the facility was decommissioned by NJ Zinc successor, Horse Head Industries, Inc. in the late 1980s.

Impact performed remediation in the PADEP Act 2 Brownfield Program. Environmental liabilities for stakeholders were truncated by the Act 2 program. Under the program, parts of the property have been capped with an earthen protective layer that will allow for the construction of a planned suite of warehouses. The project is in the second of the three remedial phases that will be required in order to safely reuse the site.

The major challenges of this project for IMPACT Environmental were to craft terms of the Operating Agreement on behalf of CBS Viacom, Phase III and Northface; perform the decommissioning of many of the plant production modules; import the appropriate fill necessary to raise the site above the residual contaminants without disrupting residential neighborhoods; monitor on-site soil and groundwater quality; and, performing the permitting necessary to make sources of fill for the cap readily available.