Washington, D.C. — Rep. Donald M. Payne, Jr. was proud to announce that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) listed the Lower Hackensack River as a Superfund site. The listing will allow the EPA to access certain federal funding designated specifically to clean up sites of industrial waste and pollution nationwide. Currently, New Jersey has 114 Superfund sites, the most in the nation. Rep. Payne, Jr. helped pass the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to provide $3.5 billion to fund Superfund clean-up efforts and reinstate the Superfund chemical excise taxes, which would make it the largest investment to address legacy pollution in American history.
“It is great to see the Lower Hackensack River added to the EPA’s Superfund National Priorities List,” said Rep. Donald M. Payne, Jr. “A few of my New Jersey House colleagues and I wrote a letter to the EPA in July 2021 to request the agency designate the river as a Superfund priority. This action shows the Biden Administration’s continued commitment to environmental protections and restorations. Now, New Jersey can get the funding and support necessary to clean up the Lower Hackensack River and create an environmental space that all residents can enjoy.”
The Lower Hackensack River site includes almost 19 miles of riverbed and wetlands from the Oradell Dam to Newark Bay. It has been the center of industrial activities and contamination for more than 200 years. Environmental studies of the river’s
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