Privatization of Toxic Clean-Ups

NEW JERSEY MODEL FOR PRIVATIZED TOXIC CLEAN-UPS FAILS AUDITS

Serious Violations Found in More than Two-Thirds of Audited Massachusetts Sites

Trenton — More than two out of three privately supervised toxic clean-ups in a Massachusetts program that New Jersey wants to adopt failed audits with serious violations, according to records released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). Despite these red flags, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is rushing to embrace further privatization of its troubled toxic remediation program as a cost-free panacea.

PEER argues that DEP has an unrealistic view of its plan to license private sector consultants to replace state employees in overseeing remediation of contaminated sites program by overlooking –

• The need to hire new state employees to license and oversee the private consultants. DEP is under a hiring freeze and does not have surplus employees to assign to run this new program;
• Privatization does not mean the program is free. DEP has disclosed no plan to plan for financing the program nor is it clear how the state will save any money in its operation; and
• Perhaps most importantly, DEP has failed to prioritize any of its more than 16,000 toxic sites – something DEP is legally required to do and has promised to do for the past two years. Without a ranking system, public health will remain secondary to developer interest in deciding where to invest scarce resources.