Carbon-based Extinction, Petro-industry Radicals Sabotaged the Global Climate Summit

by Brian T. Lynch, MSW

The global climate summit this year ended with a whimper. This year's president of the COP28 summit was Sultan Al-Jaber, who is the UAE's environment minister, and the CEO of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company. At the conference, he said that in coming to the climate conference, he was "... not signing up to any discussion that is alarmist."

The former President of Ireland, Mary Robinson, asked him if he would lead on phasing out fossil fuels. His response:

"...there is no science out there, or no scenario out there, that says the phase-out of fossil fuels is what's going to achieve 1.5 [degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels]"

Al Jaber's statement is either an intentional distortion or an admission of great ignorance. Anyone with responsibility for policy decisions about climate change knows that too little CO2 in the atmosphere would cause the planet to freeze, and too much would cause the oceans to boil. Carbon dioxide is not the most potent greenhouse gas, but at 0.04% of the air we breathe, it is by far the most common. Methane, for comparison, makes up 0.00017% of the atmosphere. Very small changes in CO2 concentrations have big climate consequences. 

While Carbon dioxide is a small component of Earth's atmosphere, small changes in its atmospheric concentrations have played a leading role in the past five mass extinction events. 

Ordovician Mass Extinction

Carbon dioxide played a central part in the first extinction event on Earth, 630 million years ago. Neoprotozoa in the ocean evolved an ability to use energy from sunlight to bind carbon atoms together to make sugar (food). The first plants! Photosynthesis made them hugely successful. Their growth was unchecked. They captured vast amounts of CO2 from the air, filled the atmosphere with oxygen, and formed a thick layer of biomass over the surface water. The biomass blocked sunlight from directly warming the ocean waters and the drop in CO2 caused global temperatures to freeze. This caused most of the oceans to freeze and deprived it of oxygen. Eighty percent of all life in the ocean became extinct.

Devonian Mass Extinction

Carbon dioxide played a significant role in Earth's second extinction event (or geologically quick series of events) 440 to 460 million years ago when the Earth's climate became unstable and switched quickly between cooling and warming events. Eighty-six percent of all life on earth died off.

Permian Mass Extinction 

Carbon dioxide played a significant role in Earth's third and largest extinction when a very prolonged and massive area of volcanic eruptions in an area half the size of the United States (in Pangea) caused acid rain and pumped huge amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere, heating up the earth and killing 96% of all life on earth.

Triassic-Jurassic Mass Extinction

Carbon dioxide played a major role in Earth's fourth extinction after another atmospheric carbon dioxide spike. Global warming started again, with scientists speculating it lasted eight million years and killed 76% of all living things on Earth.

Cretaceous-Tertiary (or the K-T) Mass Extinction

The fifth major extinction event may have been triggered when a giant asteroid smashed into the earth 65 million years ago. The initial impact caused a blanket of dust and smoke that blocked out all sunlight, killing plant life and starving the most herbivores. But CO2 levels also rose from the global conflagration of the earth's forests following the asteroid's impact.  A very hot climate followed the "asteroid winter" and lasted for thousands of years. Eventually, an atmospheric balance of CO2 returned and ushered in the longest period of temperate climate in Earth's history. It is during this period of climate stability that humans first evolved. 

   

Holocene Mass Extinction (today)

Sultan Al Jaber and most of us may not know or don't believe that the sixth great extinction is unfolding right now. It is called the Holocene extinction. It is an ongoing extinction of the Earth's flora and fauna due to human activities. This is the sixth mass extinction since the existence of Earth in 450 billion years, and an increase of carbon dioxide in the air is again playing a major role. The sixth mass extinction is driven entirely by human activity that includes many factors such as: 

• Increased atmospheric Carbon dioxide due mostly to the burning of ancient fossil fuels 
• Deforestation and the rapid loss of habitat 
• The global spread of toxic (forever) chemicals
• The depletion or degradation of water resources and aquifers 

Every mass extinction event in the past had natural causes over which we would not have any control if it happened again today. But the Holocene Extinction is of our own making. Therefore, we do have the ability to blunt its impact or even reverse course if we change our behaviors. Many people I talk to can't imagine that people's behavior can have a global impact on such a huge planet. But then all of us living today find it impossible to imagine eight billion people sharing the earth's resources at the same time. There have never been nearly so many people alive at one time. The collective actions or inaction of eight billion people can and does have a global impact for the first time in history. 

The COP28 Climate Summit was a real opportunity for the world to come up with global solutions. Instead, it was captured by the petroleum extremists for whom maintaining profits for the rich is the first priority.  

In Pursuit of Peace in the Middle East

by Brian T. Lynch, MSW

Let’s first set the stage for this latest Middle East conflict.

Creator: IBRAHEEM ABU MUSTAFA | Credit: REUTERS

Yes, Hamas is a terrorist organization that pledges to destroy Israel. It has about 40,000 members, many of whom are strategically embedded within Gaza. Gaza is effectively a small containment area for two million indigenous Palestinians. Most are the offspring of ancestors displaced from Palestine territory after World War II when Winston Churchill and the West recreated a Jewish homeland. This new Jewish homeland hadn’t existed in the Middle East for well over a thousand years.

The forced exodus of Palestine residents to make way for a new Israel was fundamentally unfair, and it imposed enormous generational hardships. The world did not respond as it should with plans to help build and provision a viable, self-governing Palestinian nation. It still does not provide sufficient resources to set up a new and productive homeland for the displaced Palestinian families today, and the anticipated “two-state” solution has faded.

These manufactured circumstances (of course) resulted in several brutal wars funded in part by American Taxpayers in support of Israel’s right to exist. Death and destruction created trauma, deprivation, chaos, and disorder for all families living in the region, including families in Israel. It also produced generational enmity and a hardening of hearts on all sides of the conflict that decades of peace negotiation have not overcome. Just as surely as night follows day, hatred has led to corruption and the dissipation of hope. For decades Hamas has ruled over the people of Gaza with a heavy hand for their own self-serving interests. At the same time, Israel has been treating all Gazans as hostile enemies, which adds to their depravations and despair.

This is the morass within which the brutal attack on innocent Israeli civilians took place on October 7th. It came at a time when the Netanyahu government in Israel is radically rightwing, anti-Palestinian, and out of step with the majority of Israelis. The Netanyahu government has pledged to eradicate Hamas. Hamas knew such an intensely brutal surprise attack over Israel’s border would drive Israel's leadership crazy and force unrestrained military retribution. Hamas strategically embedded its fighters/martyrs within the most populous and sensitive civilian areas to use its innocent people as human shields. This move maximizes the civilian casualties that would follow an unrestrained counter-attack. They knew this would inflame passions, destabilize the whole region, and foment Jewish hatred around the globe.

The plan is working. Israel is bombing civilian areas to reach the Hamas fighters hiding among the people. Almost half of the casualties are children. Despite a kill ratio estimated to be 50 civilians killed for every Hamas leader who dies, the Netanyahu government will not show any restraint. They say they need to keep pressure on Hamas for the return of the 240 hostages taken during the October 7th raid. But ask yourself, what do you call a person forced to act as a human shield for a bad guy holding a weapon?

The answer: A HOSTAGE!

Innocent civilians in Gaza are being held hostage by Hamas. The terrorists wanted to show the world the extent of Israel's disregard for human life in Gaza. For its part, Israeli leaders are accommodating that wish. The necessary military response to the October 7th attack required discernment and strategic restraint by Israel’s leaders. That isn’t happening. Even the Biden Administration, which unequivocally supported Israel’s right to defend itself, is starting to recoil from the humanitarian disaster unfolding in Gaza. Anti-Semitic hate crimes are now breaking out in the United States and across the globe. Israel’s intervention strategies need to be completely turned around in order to defeat Hamas, prevent a greater conflict in the region, free ALL the hostages in Gaza, both Israeli and Gaza’s, and show the world that Israel is ready and worthy of pursuing peace with its neighbors.

PREQUEL: https://aseyeseesit.blogspot.com/2023/10/israel-and-palestine-at-war-what-side.html

Addendum: November 23, 2023 (Thanksgiving Day) - Israel has revised its death toll downward from the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks to about 1,200 people. As of November 21, 2023, more than 14,000 Palestinian civilians have been killed in Gaza due to Israel's counterattacks. This includes more than 5,500 children. That means more than four innocent children and seven adult Palestinians have been killed for each Israeli victim of the attack. Qatar negotiators just announced that a truce will begin tomorrow morning and the first hostages will be released in the afternoon. Perhaps the pause will allow Israeli leaders to reflect on Exodus 19:6, which says, "And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel".  

To quote Bob Dylan, " Yes, and how many deaths will it take till he knows that too many people have died." The answer is blowing in the wind.

LOCAL JOURNALISM IS IN CRITICAL CONDITION!

March 5, 2023

by Brian T. Lynch, MSW

Local journalism in Morris County was severely disabled a decade ago, but its dismantling went
largely unreported. The remaining news organizations didn’t adequately cover the story of their own decline.

 

Example of a Local Newspaper edition in 1968

The Daily Record is just one example. Morris County had 485,000 residents in 2005 when over three dozen journalists and editors worked at the Daily Record. They covered the county seven days a week. The Star-Ledger also had a full-time complement of reporters covering Morris County.

Today, with over 500 thousand residents in the county, the Daily Record has just one full-time reporter, William Westhoven, doing his best to cover it all. Ben Horowitz of the Star-Ledger is assigned to cover Morris County Court news but also covers environmental stories in Northern New Jersey. Other reporters cover the county as part of a more regional news beat.

Since the 1990’s most local newspapers in the county and throughout New Jersey were taken over by giant corporate news conglomerates. Local newsrooms were decimated by layoffs, operations were consolidated, and local news operations were dismantled in what was called cost-saving moves.

In 2005 the Daily Record of Morris County had a vibrant news business with over 14 local news reporters covering every town. Reporters like Michael Daigle, Rob Jennings, Matt Monochio, Rob Seman, Tehani Schneider, Jenna McKnight, Abbott Koloff, and my own daughter Sarah N. Lynch, were among a team of reporters dedicated to covering Morris County. They had no trouble finding important news of interest to their readers.

The Daily Record employed at least six photojournalists back then, including Karen Fucito, Bob Karp, John Bell, Danielle Austen, Tyson Trish, and Dawn Benko. The paper had a Features Team led by Jim Bohen, with respected reporters such as Lorraine Ash. There was also a full complement of sports reporters, a small business desk, a team of assignment and copy editors, and what was called a Plus Section for hyper-local reporting led by Joe Arney.

The Daily Record was purchased by Gannett in the late 1990s. The company owns U.S.A.Today and 235 other newspapers, making it the largest owner of newspapers in the United States. 

I would love to hear from any former Morris County journalists, named or unnamed in this post. What do you have to say about the rapid decline of the local news business here in the county? I would love to hear your story. (Also: Please let me know of any corrections to the information above.)

Of course, the demise of local journalism here and around the country didn’t just happen. It has a history spanning just several decades. But the trend remains a mostly downward spiral.

In October 2013, Richard A. Lee wrote a dissertation on the Role of the Media In New Jersey’s 2005 and 2009 Gubernatorial Elections. His research then is history worth reading. Here are a few quotes from Mr. Lee’s research:

During the first decade of the 21st Century, two developments affected the manner in which New Jersey residents obtained news and information about their state. The size of newsroom staff at the newspapers covering the state was reduced substantially through buyouts, layoffs, cutbacks, and consolidations, and the growth of the Internet altered the manner in which news was gathered, reported, and disseminated, placing new demands on depleted news staffs. Although neither development was unique to New Jersey…

A content analysis of the coverage of New Jersey’s 2005 and 2009 gubernatorial elections, coupled with three sets of interviews with individuals involved in both campaigns, showed that the quality of news coverage declined during this four-year period. Stories were reported in less depth, with less context and with more emphasis on personalities and horserace issues than on substantive public policy matters.

Going back to the 1990s, the drive to turn a profit became a higher priority for media companies and their corporate owners... So when the financial downturn hit in 2008, Gannett’s New Jersey dailies, then numbering six, suffered through what Bob Ingle, a former senior political columnist for Gannett NJ, called a “massacre,” shedding more than 400 jobs in 2008 and 2009. The Trenton bureau became a two-person operation, down from nine.

The decline in local journalism continued. In January of 2017, David Chen in a New York Times article wrote an article about the lack of media watchdogs in New Jersey. At that time he wrote:

The Star-Ledger’s parent company, Advance Publications, presided over a 45 percent paring of the newsroom in 2008, and cut an additional 167 jobs in 2014… Another Advance paper, The Times of Trenton, slashed its newsroom to 30 from 90 between 2007 and 2009, and closed its statehouse bureau, according to Mr. Lee.

More from Mr. Lee's 2013 dissertation:

“News entities no longer are able to regularly provide in-depth stories by experienced reporters unpacking the major issues confronting the state. Fortunately, new news platforms are emerging in New Jersey and elsewhere to fill this void [a reference to TAPinto.com and PATCH.com]. However, the new media landscape requires a greater commitment from citizens. Becoming an informed and educated citizen in the 21st Century is not a passive activity. To fulfill their roles in the democratic process, citizens can no longer rely on the media to provide them with the information they need. Instead, they must seek it out from the plethora of material available online and decide what is credible and what is not, what is valuable and what is not, so they can participate in the democratic process as informed citizens and keep democracy strong and healthy.”

This seems to be especially true in Morris County, which has become somewhat of a news desert with only a handful of municipalities fully covered by local news sites such as Patch.com and TAPinto.net.

For a more historical context, here is a table showing perhaps only a partial list of Morris County newspapers over the years.

NOTE - Nov. 1, 2023: I wrote this piece about local journalism in March of this year but didn't publish it in this blog until this past weekend. I thought I had published it, but it somehow slipped through the cracks in my busy life. I noticed it was missing when local Facebook friends complained that a fatal accident in Mine Hill got no news coverage in any of the understaffed news outlets that cover surrounding towns. This was an opening to have a discussion about the fact that we live in a news desert. Today I learned of a recent article on the subject written by Dan Golden in ProPublica. Dan is a nationally renowned journalist, editor, and author from Massachusetts with years of experience in the news business. His article highlights the complexities of local news reporting and its decline in America. Here is a link to his article:  

https://www.propublica.org/article/local-newspaper-legacy-springfield-massachusetts

Gov't Executions - The Company We Keep

by Brian T. Lynch, MSW

I'm looking forward to watching the new opera, "Dead Man Walking." I'm not a proponent of capital punishment and was looking at some current statistics ahead of time. I want to share some of what I found.

As of late 2022, 53 countries retain capital punishment, 111 countries have completely abolished it, seven have abolished it for domestic crimes while maintaining it for special circumstances such as war crimes, and 24 are abolitionist in practice. There are 193 countries in the world. That means capital punishment isn't practiced in 70% of all the countries in the world.

But more shockingly, look at the company we keep in terms of the frequency of executions. China is the big outlier executing thousands of citizens per year. We were the fifth most active in the world last year, and look - There is not another primarily "Christian" state among the top ten or beyond. In the USA, capital punishment was used by 6 of 50 states in 2022: Alabama, Arizona, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas.

Isn't it ironic that states where the people trust governments the least have the most government executions?

Popularity for the death penalty is highest among white Evangelical Protestants (53%) and Protestants in general (50%). Government executions, as reported by Amnesty International, took place in 20 of the world's 195 countries last year.

Israel and Palestine at War. What Side Are Your On?

“Are you for us or for our enemies? “Joshua asked.

 “Neither,” said an angel of the Lord.

 

In the aftermath of the horrific massacres of innocent Israelis by criminal Hamas terrorists who control and subjugate their own Palestinian people, I wish Israel had a more sagacious leader to pursue justice for all. I hope I’m wrong, but the stage seems to be set for more humanitarian tragedy.

 

I hear the familiar drumbeats of war, the same rhythms that pushed us into Iraq. It has been unleashed on American and international news organizations once again to polarize us into believing there is a single choice to make. We must all support Israel!

 

It’s a false choice in this sense. There are two warring governments, each believing they are justified in their aggression against the other nation. Then, on both sides, there are innocent children and families caught up in violence. This third side is the God’s-Eye view based on circumstances not unlike what Joshua faced before the battle of Jericho:

 

“Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, “Are you for us or for our enemies?”

 

14“Neither,” he replied, “but as commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.” Then Joshua fell facedown to the ground in reverence and asked him, “What message does my Lord have for his servant?”

 

15 The commander of the Lord’s army replied, “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.” Joshua 5:13-15

 

Taking up arms may be necessary from this perspective, but vengeance remains taboo. “Vengeance is mine, “says the Lord. It’s not our choice to make.

 

The faithful Jews of Israel know they are called to be a blessing in the world. They are called to be a nation of priests. That is the side of Israel that has been seeking more humanitarian Israeli government policies and treatment for Palestinian children and families over the years. That is the side of Israel on which I stand. I am on the side of blameless children and families on both (all) sides of the conflict. They must be protected and cared for amid the military response. But how is it possible?

 

The Hamas attackers know how the current leadership in Israel will likely respond to their unspeakably heinous attacks. They know it will rain hellfire down on innocent Palestinians. In the past, Israel has met their crazy, bloody incursions with even more indiscriminate slaughter, much to the condemnation of the Arab world. That is their plan. If the United States appears to support this conduct of war now, our status in the world will be diminished as well. It is a trap that Hamas hopes to achieve. They want the rest of the world to hate and condemn all Jews.

 

The situation Israel faces as it prepares for battle requires great discernment and mercy for the innocent lives of those trapped in Gaza. A victory against Hamas conducted in a righteous manner, which protects innocent children and families, can lead to peace and Justice for everyone. God demands nothing less.

ADDENDUM: https://aseyeseesit.blogspot.com/2023/11/in-pursuit-of-peace-in-middle-east.html

Save the World to Save Ourselves

 by Brian T. Lynch

If you are over 50 years old, the population of the Earth has more than doubled since you were born. In the year 1800, before the industrial revolution took hold, there were one billion people on earth. There will soon be 8 billion. For perspective, there have been about 40,000 generations since the dawn of civilization. It has taken us just nine generations to go from one to eight billion inhabitants. Our primitive brain cannot grasp such a geometric explosion, but the numbers tell a story.

Our success as a species is on pace to be our downfall. Our exploitive and wasteful use of natural resources now has impacts on a planetary scale due to our population level. Our collective behaviors threaten the survival of our species and many other life forms on Earth. The destruction is well underway, and some irreparable harm to the biosphere is baked into the future.

There are nine scientifically identified boundaries within which life thrives on Earth. We have already breached six of them. One of these boundaries is the degree of biodiversity between and within living species. This is an essential buffer against naturally occurring environmental changes. It is estimated that the normal background rate of global extinctions, excluding mass extinction events, is between five and twenty species a year. Within the last two centuries, the current extinction rates have accelerated at least 100 times that rate, and we are solely responsible for this change.

Another broken boundary is the balance between the thermal energy we receive from the Sun vs. the amount the Earth loses in space. The ever-higher levels of carbon dioxide we release by burning fossil fuel is warming our oceans and atmosphere. The proliferation of phosphorus and nitrogen in our ecosystems from fertilizers and other sources is a boundary we have crossed. These chemicals are wreaking havoc on terrestrial aquatic and marine environments. The accumulation of hazardous man-made chemicals in the biosphere, such as PFAS and DDT, is another boundary breached. Land use and the loss of forest lands is another example of a broken barrier, and all these boundaries have been crossed because of the unprecedented scale of human population in the last 100 years.

The damage we have done to our sacred planet is great, but not as great as the damage we can yet prevent. We will save most living things and ourselves if we atone for our sins against nature, make righteous choices from here on out, and take timely actions. We have the power and the duty to save our world. What we don’t yet have is visionary leadership, a knowledgeable public, or the consensual urgency to act. The obstacles to global salvation are formidable. Our social, cultural, religious, and economic frameworks stand as bulwarks against the fundamental changes required. Our social institutions are homocentric and as self-serving as the public at large. This has to change. We must all become advocates for change.

Here is an article about the nine boundaries (but there may be a paywall):

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/humans-have-crossed-6-of-9-planetary-boundaries/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=week-in-science&utm_content=link&utm_term=2023-09-15_featured-this-week&fbclid=IwAR0W4PQzrP96bYHUqJZajz2Qd3Lr-Baxr6sYieyJbeeo9TyNHoGTrbTj6ho

Roxbury Planning Board Grapples with Traffic Patterns in the Hercules Redevelopment Plan

by Brian T. Lynch, MSW

The turnout for the September 6th Planning Board meeting was good, with few open chairs left in the meeting room. Hartz Mountain, the proposed developer for 57 acres of warehouses on the Hercules site, had expected to complete testimony on the Traffic Plan and provide testimony with respect to the Community Impact Statement and the Environmental Impact Statement. However, the meeting bogged down in discussions of the minutia regarding traffic patterns for over two hours.

Board members questioned the validity of the traffic study and disparities in the numbers of vehicles at various ramps and intersections during peak morning and evening rush hours. Due to the pandemic, the locally collected traffic study counts, which involved just one day’s sample, were uncharacteristically lower than normal. The published 2019 NJDOT traffic study data from before the pandemic were used to extrapolate current patterns using the highest number of vehicles as calculated from this combined data. The traffic sample and traffic study were completed by Langan Engineering in 2021, which may be before traffic patterns fully returned to normal. The Board was reluctant to rely on the findings. They also pointed out that some of the numbers are just too low for certain intersections based on their own driving experiences on Howard Blvd. One example was the westbound off-ramp from Rt.80 across from the park and ride. It showed a single-digit number (8?) of cars per hour. Lagan Engineering agreed to conduct a second traffic study sample in the future to confirm or alter their current findings.

There was a lengthy discussion about the adequacy of the proposed intersection that is designed to allow traffic into and from the Hercules property. The total number of vehicles coming either in or out of the warehouse facility each day will be 4,106.  Trucks will only be allowed to turn right when exiting the property. Vehicles exiting to the right will have their own lane from which to merge into the northbound lane. Vehicles turning right from the northbound lane will have their own entrance lane. Trucks and cars coming southbound off of Rt.80 will have their own turn left lane to enter the property with a traffic light and left turn arrow. The proposed left turning lane is only about 250' long, which means it can hold, at most, three tractor-trailers (or some combination of cars and trucks) before the turning lane traffic backs up into the through lane. The Lagan representative said It takes 9 seconds for a stopped semi to make a left turn and 5 sec. for a car. The traffic light’s left arrow is green for 23 seconds before northbound thru traffic gets the green light. The traffic light cycles 40 times per hour. Southbound cars and trucks on Howard Blvd. can continue to make a left turn for another 47 seconds if oncoming northbound traffic allows. The Board is worried that the left turn lane may not be long enough to prevent backups into the thru lane, and the 23-second delay for vehicles to turn left only allows 2.5 trucks to make the turn. Additionally, because of the topography, a hill beside Howard Blvd, looking towards the oncoming traffic from Rt.46, obstructs the vision for oncoming traffic. The plans call for lowering the height of the hillside to allow truckers an adequate view of oncoming traffic before making the left turn. There is a question of whether the plans to improve the sightlines are adequate due to vegetation growth and snowbanks in the winter.

There was also a discussion of the planned improvement by the State for the Rt.80 entrance and exit ramps. The Board questioned whether the net improvements in traffic flow from the planned improvement would be canceled out by the additional truck traffic expected for the warehouse operations.

Other questions about noise and air pollution raised by local residents were differed because other experts are expected to testify about those issues in a future meeting.

The next meeting will be at the Roxbury Municipal Building on October 4th at 7:30 p.m.

HERCULES IN KENVIL REMAINS A POLLUTED HOTSPOT

HERCULES KENVIL, NJ, PHASE II REMEDIATION INVESTIGATION REPORT SUMMARY
 

by Brian T. Lynch, MSW

After decades of wondering, we now can be sure that the 900+ acre former Hercules Powder Company property in Kenvil, NJ, would still qualify as a superfund site. After twenty years of study, the final Phase II Remedial Investigation Report was released six years ago to the N.J. Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) with little fanfare. The DEP decided years earlier not to list the abandoned Hercules Powder property as a State Superfund site. Instead, the agency chose to assign the investigation and clean up of the property under a new law at the time that permitted Ashland Chemical, the corporation that purchased the property, to self-fund environmental studies and cleanup operations on land where explosives were manufactured for over 150 years. 

Under the supervision of a Licensed Site Remediation Specialist (LSRP) indirectly employed by the Ashland Corporation, privately hired subcontractors specializing in environmental assessment and remediation services conducted the investigation of soil, sediment, groundwater, and surface water contamination. Concurrently, an LSRP has overseen the most critical remediation actions taken over the past 30 years, including work to safely demolish buildings on the site, remove and destroy chemicals stored there, and other measures required to limit the further release of toxic chemicals.

Under this legal arrangement with the State, an LSRP (there have been several over the years) prepares periodic reports and submits all study materials and documents to the DEP for review and approval. It has been estimated that the number of documents submitted to the DEP over the years exceeds thirty-thousand pages. 

While all documents are public records, accessing them is not easy. Many older documents are only now being digitalized. Interested parties have to request a review of older documents from the DEP. This involves a trip to the DEP's Trenton headquarters, where boxes of paper documents are brought into a reviewing area from a nearby warehouse. Many reports are highly technical and incomprehensible to non-scientists. 

For most residents, the former Hercules property has been a black box of potential health risks for everyone downwind or downstream. The general public is unaware of the extent or severity of the pollution. 

Last month, the Raritan Headwaters Association obtained about 30,000 pages of more recent, digitally accessible records, including the complete copy of the Hercules Phase II Remedial Investigation Report summary (RIR).  The RIR summary reveals that many significant contaminants remain in the site's soil, sediments, groundwater, and surface water. Some contaminants are at unsafe levels, and the site must remain off-limits to the general public. The good news is that the natural, undisturbed conditions at the site have so far confined the most toxic substances within its boundaries.  The summary report is over 900 pages long and difficult to synthesize further. What follows are snippets of the report (in bold) to support some of the report's general conclusions.  


From the Report as regards just the surface waters and sediments at the facility:

“• SVOCs were detected in sediment, but not in surface water at five of the seven co-located
sample points.

• Beryllium, selenium, and silver were detected in sediment and not in surface water,
indicating these constituents are not partitioning from sediment to surface water.

• Arsenic, cadmium, chromium, cobalt, copper, lead, mercury, nickel, vanadium, and zinc
were detected in surface water and sediment.

• Aluminum, barium, calcium, iron, magnesium, potassium, and manganese were detected in both surface water and sediment samples from each co-location. Per the United States
Geological Survey (1984), these metals are commonly found in surficial geologic material in the vicinity of the Facility.”

And this:

“In certain instances, constituents were present at concentrations that exceeded their aqueous solubility limits by two to four orders of magnitude, indicating that these constituents were associated with suspended sediment entrained in the surface water sample.”

Different contaminants are found in different areas on the property according to the manufacturing activity that took place at those locations. In addition, many contaminants were spread throughout the site as a result of drainage ditches, construction work, burn pits, and explosions. This created mixed layering and cross-contamination in many areas. For example, soil samples in the TNT manufacturing area, which took place closest to the Great Springs wetlands on the southern end of the property, contain the highest levels of toxic chemicals related to TNT manufacturing but also contain various contaminants from different manufacturing locations on the property.

From the Report: [4-13, pdf pg 35]

“TNT in soil exceeds its IGWSSL [Impact to Groundwater Soil Screening Levels] in the TNT Area, the PETN [Pentaerythritol Tetranitrate] Area, and the western portion of the Dynamite Area. TNT and related breakdown constituents (4-Amino-2,6-dinitrotoluene, 2,4/2,6-Dinitrotoluene, and 2-Amino-4,6-Dinitrotoluene) exceed their respective GWQS[Groundwater Quality Standards] in… [12]… monitoring wells… located downgradient of soil sample results exceeding the IGWSSL for TNT."

And this: 

"RDX [1,3,5-Trinitroperhydro-1,3,5-triazine, Hexahydro-1,3,5-Trinitro-1,3,5-Triazine] exceeds its GWQS in a monitoring well (MW-36) co-located with and/or downgradient of soil samples with RDX detections that exceed its IGWSSL.”

As a result of different contaminants at various toxicity levels in different areas, anyone authorized to be on the property must first receive special training. Note that the word “receptor” is used throughout the report to refer to any living thing that can potentially be harmed by the contaminants, including “human receptors.”

From the Report:

“Facility-related influences in environmental media result in unacceptable levels of [the] potential risk to ecological receptors based on the screening and conservative exposure modeling conducted in the EE/ERA… Current Facility use precludes human health exposure risks, as personnel permitted to access the Facility are trained in the identification and control/mitigation of potential exposures.”

The report states that hunters are brought into the facility to hunt deer and wildlife that graze on potentially toxic vegetation, presumably so they don’t carry pollution off-site. It’s possible that deer contaminated from grazing on toxic plants could end up in another hunter's venison. Also, trappers are brought in to control the beaver population. Perhaps this is to keep the hydrology on the property from becoming dangerously altered by damn buildings or other bever activities. The report doesn’t specify why the need to control wildlife populations.

From the Report:

5.3.3.1.2 Hunters/Trappers
“Hunters and trappers occasionally enter the Facility under Hercules direction to facilitate control wildlife populations using the Facility (e.g., deer and beaver). Access is limited to weekends during approved hunting/trapping seasons, and their activities are non-intrusive in nature. These individuals receive hazard communication training and are restricted from entering areas where constituents [i.e. contaminants] are likely to be present on the surface.”

We also learned some good news. To date, the most concerning contaminants on the property haven’t migrated off-site to residential areas. For example, toxic chemicals on the property have not been detected in nearby residential wells. The Black River flowing out of the wetlands at the site's southern end isn’t picking up the toxins detected in the surrounding soils or sediments. Note that the report refers to the Black River as a “drainage ditch.” That ditch is actually thousands of years old.

From the Report:

“Surface water leaves the Facility in a single location, via a drainage ditch beneath Route 46 in the southeastern corner of the Facility. SI/RI data at this location indicate that constituents are not leaving the Facility via surface water transport.”

There is a caveat that increases in the flow rate could cause contaminates embedded in the surrounding soil or sediments to become suspended in the water and carried downstream. This fact should be of immediate concern when assessing the adequacy of safeguards to prevent this from happening during the current bioremediation activity.

From the Report:

“Beyond the direct transport of dissolved phase constituents in surface water, surface water may transport constituents adsorbed to suspended sediment offsite during high flow conditions… As previously discussed, flowrates influence the transport of suspended sediment.”

Trees and vegetation that have grown back over time seem to be keeping the wind and rain from carrying off potentially polluted soil. However, high levels of soil contamination in some areas have caused those areas to remain barren.

From the Report:

“It is believed soil erosion was much more prominent historically (estimated to
be from the late 1800s until approximately 1950) when the Facility intentionally removed
vegetation to prevent the spread of fires. The removal of vegetation destabilizes the surficial
soils allowing erosion to occur more freely. From the 1950s through Facility closure in 1996, low-growing groundcover (e.g., turf) was maintained, reducing the potential for erosion. Following Facility closure, maintenance activities ceased and vegetation now covers much of the Facility.

And this from the Report:

"Areas devoid of vegetation do exist and are attributed to constituent concentrations in soil (e.g., over-nitrification of soil where TNT is present)."

Now, however, there has been a recent change of status. Earlier this year, soil remediation activity has begun for the first time. Trees have been cut down; vegetation has been removed. Soil contaminated with PCB was excavated for transport to a special landfill. Other polluted soil was excavated and taken to a bioremediation facility that was built on the edge of the Black River wetlands. This is the area that Lenape natives called “the Great Spring” and is the headwaters of the North Branch of the Raritan River.

Nevertheless, according to the investigation report, the surface water discharge to the Black River from the Great Spring is not carrying contaminants off-site. That’s good news so long as the current excavations underway don’t accidentally release dangerous chemicals that could turn the Black River into a conduit carrying pollution downstream. All is well so long as newly exposed soil doesn’t get carried away by the wind or severe rainstorms. All is well so long a stable plume of contaminated groundwater discovered under the property's southwest corner doesn't migrate into residential areas.

From the Report:

“A small well defined RDX [groundwater] plume exists within the area bounded by monitoring wells MWs 25, 33, 35, 37, J2, and J3 located immediately southwest of the Development Area.”

We trust that all conceivable safeguards are in place and that the stream flowing from that land is frequently and rigorously tested. We must trust the NJDEP, the LSRP, and the Ashland Corporation because we don’t have all the data or information necessary to independently verify the adequacy of the current remediation plans.

More Oversite Needed at the Polluted Hercules Property

by Brian T. Lynch, MSW

The clean-up and redevelopment of the Hercules tract in Kenvil have always been a private enterprise with insufficient public oversite. That needs to change before March 1st, when the Roxbury Planning Board and the public will hear the case for approving a Hartz Mountain Corporation plan to build 57 acres of warehouses on this polluted land. 

After over 150 years of explosives manufacturing on the Hercules property in Kenvil, New Jersey, all manufacturing activity stopped in 1996. This left behind a thousand acres of arguably the most complex land contamination in the state's history. It created a major quandary for the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and potentially a substantial financial burden for taxpayers if the property was designated as a State Superfund Site. 

That didn’t happen. Instead, an agreement was reached between the DEP and Hercules (now with Ashland Global, a large chemical corporation that purchased the property). Under a new law, this agreement allows private companies to conduct and pay for all remediation activity on polluted land. All the initial decommissioning work and scientific studies of the property have been privately funded since then, including a twenty-year-long, two-phase Remediation Investigation Report (RIR) completed about seven years ago. 

That RIR report, and tens of thousands of other documents, were recently obtained the Raritan Headwaters Association under an OPRA request to the DEP. The review of this massive tranche of documents is ongoing, but potential environmental risks are immediately obvious. Here is just a small example of information contained in the 1,800-page RIR Summary

From the Report as regards just the surface waters and sediments at the facility:

“• SVOCs were detected in sediment, but not in surface water at five of the seven co-located
sample points.

• Beryllium, selenium, and silver were detected in sediment and not in surface water,
indicating these constituents are not partitioning [moving] from sediment to surface water.

• Arsenic, cadmium, chromium, cobalt, copper, lead, mercury, nickel, vanadium, and zinc
were detected in surface water and sediment.

• Aluminum, barium, calcium, iron, magnesium, potassium, and manganese were detected in both surface water and sediment samples from each co-location. Per the United States
Geological Survey (1984), these metals are commonly found in surficial geologic material in the vicinity of the Facility.”

And this:

“In certain instances, constituents were present at concentrations that exceeded their aqueous solubility limits by two to four orders of magnitude, indicating that these constituents were associated with suspended sediment entrained in the surface water

Here is another example of what the report says regarding soil in another area of the property: 

From the Report: [4-13, pdf pg 35]

“TNT in soil exceeds its IGWSSL [Impact to Groundwater Soil Screening Levels] in the TNT Area, the PETN [Pentaerythritol Tetranitrate] Area, and the western portion of the Dynamite Area. TNT and related breakdown constituents (4-Amino-2,6-dinitrotoluene, 2,4/2,6-Dinitrotoluene, and 2-Amino-4,6-Dinitrotoluene) exceed their respective GWQS[Groundwater Quality Standards] in… [12]… monitoring wells… located downgradient of soil sample results exceeding the IGWSSL for TNT."

And this example is regarding groundwater under the property: 

"RDX [1,3,5-Trinitroperhydro-1,3,5-triazine, Hexahydro-1,3,5-Trinitro-1,3,5-Triazine] exceeds its GWQS in a monitoring well (MW-36) co-located with and/or downgradient of soil samples with RDX detections that exceed its IGWSSL.”

 

A massive amount of demolition and decontamination work initially took place on the highly polluted Hercules property in the early 2000s. Many contaminated buildings and other structures were demolished and disposed of. Miles of pipelines were drained of toxic chemicals and removed from the ground where they were buried, and a decades-long science-based study of pollution on the site was begun. These efforts have been verbally characterized as successful, but any consequences that these early decommissioning activities may have had on the movement of toxic chemicals are not well documented in the final report. The RIR mostly provides a contemporary status of soil, sediment, groundwater, and surface water contamination.

The private work, by property owners and their contractors, must be overseen by a privately hired LSRP, or Licensed Site Remediation Professional. This person is specially trained and licensed by the state to oversee cleanup operations. The LSRP sends all reports and documents pertaining to the clean-up to the NJ DEP for final review and approval. The Hercules tract was eventually sold to Ashland Chemical’s property division which continues to privately fund all remediation activities at the Hercules tract today. The general concept is that the private corporation's investments to clean up the site will eventually yield corporate profits when the property is redeveloped. This type of agreement obviously precludes the possibility of the entire property being returned to a natural state.

In the intervening years since the initial decommissioning work, the land has been largely undisturbed. The RIR summary found that the current hydrology, the regrowth of vegetative cover, and an absence of human activity have stabilized the many chemical and heavy metal contaminates on the Hercules property. That is to say, the contamination is not currently migrating off the property. Furthermore, the vegetation covering the grounds helps to naturally break down many toxins in the soil. This is good news, but this still leaves pockets of substances in highly toxic quantities scattered throughout the site. As a result, the Hercules property remains off-limits to the general public. Those who have reason to be there must receive special training to avoid contamination, according to the RIR report.

An important finding suggested throughout the RIR is that if stabilizing conditions on the property change in the future, the contaminants could migrate off-site. This would create potential health risks for Roxbury residents and anyone downstream from the Black River. 

Many people are unaware that the Black River originates from the southern wetlands and the prolific freshwater springs on the Hercules property. The property sits over an "unconfined" aquifer that stretches across the Succasunna plains. But there is another "confined" aquifer (between nonporous rock layers) below it. That aquifer is tapped by both private and commercial wells in the region. It is believed that fissures in the rocks at the Hercules site allow some water to rise to the surface within the wetlands adding to the water that comes from rainfall.  The quality of water from this area of springs, known to the original Lenape natives as the Great Spring, appears to be very good.

The RIR Summary and other documents consistently refer to the 

To visualize the general flow of water at the Hercules site, think of a horseshoe leaning against a peg. The back of the horseshoe is elevated, while the open end of the horseshoe faces south along Rt. 46. The metal shoe represents a rocky ridge that encloses a sloped basin comprised of glacier-deposited sediments (the unconfined aquifer). A dip in the ridge at the northeast corner allows surface water in that area to run northeast into the Rockaway River basin. The rest of the groundwater and surface water travels in a southwesterly direction into the wetlands on the southern edge of the property. This then forms the Black River that drains into Sunset Lake and the Raritan River Basin.

The list of toxins found on the Hercules tract is long and varied. The entire site is cross-contaminated, but the concentrations of chemical pollutants in excess of safety standards are mostly found in locations where those substances were stored or used in manufacturing. For example, in the section referred to as the Maintenance Area near the center of the property, there was once an electrical generation plant where Hercules made its own electricity. It contained many electrical components that used PCB as a coolant. The huge 1940 explosion destroyed this equipment spreading PCBs over the property, much of which seeped into the soil at that location. In the area where TNT and dynamite were made, spills, past explosions, and antiquated production practices left unsafe concentrations of toxic explosives and energetic chemicals (or E&E) in the soil.

Near Duck Pond to the north, chemical waste and other polluted items were burned in a burn pit that released Dioxin and other chemicals into the air and surrounding soil. Further west of the burn pit, there is a licensed landfill covering multiple acres. According to documents recently reviewed, there is no record of what was deposited in that landfill in the early years of its operation. In another area, there is significant lead contamination in the soil where Hercules fabricated equipment made of lead (because it doesn’t spark when struck). There is also an inactive chemical waste treatment plant that is still licensed by the DEP to release up to 135,000 gallons of treated wastewater into the Black River daily. No wastewater has been released since 2002, and the license is up for renewal. An application to renew that license was just submitted to the DEP this month.

The Maintenance area mentioned above is where tons of PCB-tainted soil was hauled away last spring to special landfills. The TNT and Dynamite Areas are the current focus of bioremediation activities. Critically, all these remediation activities and future redevelopment activities require disturbing the soil and vegetation that keep toxic chemicals from migrating off the property. That’s why precautions being taken to prevent this from happening are essential to protect the environment and maintain human safety. The public has a right to know how we are being protected.

The two-decade-long RIR summary provides the factual basis for the bioremediation activity begun in January 2022. It documents the environmental hot spots on the site and informs future development plans, including the recently proposed Hartz Mountain redevelopment plan to build warehouses to be leased to future tenants. An area known as the Maintenance Area will be partly covered by the 57 acres of warehouses proposed by Hartz Mountain. The plan also requires building roadways, and parking lots. The redevelopment would encompass 200 acres in all. Covering that much land with impervious surfaces is an element of the remediation plan. The idea is to cap the tainted soil to prevent contaminants from migrating to the ground or surface water. This plan would generate millions of gallons of stormwater yearly based on rainfall averages. This stormwater would have to be captured, treated, and released to the Black River.  

Given the changes to the hydrology and land use of the property resulting from ongoing remediation activity and the proposed redevelopment, how this ultimately impacts the groundwater and the surface water flowing into the Black River requires full disclosure and public consideration.

Mountain Park in Dover, New Jersey

by Brian T. Lynch, MSW

         

Mountain Park is in Dover, a valley town settled 300 years ago in the Appalachian Highlands of Northern New Jersey. For those unfamiliar with the area, Dover is surrounded by hills once rich in magnetite, a mineral with very high iron content. The Rockaway River runs through town, as once did the Morris Canal, which made it an ideal location to support early mining operations and industrial development.

Entrance to Mountian Park 

Mountain Park History: One small mining operation in Dover was the Munson Iron Mine located on Oram Hill(?) in South Dover. The Munson Mine built two railroad tracts to carry ore down to the town, but production was small and economically insufficient. Mining operations were soon abandoned. Over many decades that followed, the Munson Mine property remained untouched as it was too steep for development. Vegetation and a wide variety of trees reclaimed the land to form a verdant forest. It was purchased by the Town of Dover under an Open Space Preservation Grant in the mid-1970s(?) and renamed Mountain Park.

Mountain Park has a peak elevation of 750 feet and rises about 100 feet above the town. It features an excellent overlook of the valley. The park entrance is on S. Morris Avenue, just north of the Christadelphian Church. The only public parking would be street parking on Woodland Avenue across the street.

The trailhead starts in a narrow patch of woods that opens to a large lawn flanked by private houses. Don’t be concerned because almost the entire field is park property. Cross the lawn to where the White Trail begins at the edge of the woods. It is generally well-marked and maintained by volunteers (I as understand it). The ground was soft, damp, and mostly covered by fallen leaves when I hiked the trail. It is a modest and steady climb to the top of the hill under a canopy of a wide variety of trees and some ground cover near the entrance. The sound of rushing water can be heard on your right near the trailhead, but the brook is not visible.

The brook, I discovered later, is an unnamed tributary to the Rockaway River flowing from underground springs into storm drains along Warren Street and Rose Way. On an 1853 map of Randolph Township, the spring’s water flowed freely over the surface. The brook was apparently buried when the residential neighborhood was built.

Continuing up the trail, the incline becomes steeper as it nears the top. There are areas where the trail has washed out during recent rains. There are also two optical internet cables going into Victory Gardens strung haphazardly across the pathway. One is about chest high and the other near the ground. It is a foot-trip hazard, so beware.

Fiber optic cable across the trail

 Further along, the trail crosses two former railroad beds once used to carry iron ore and equipment to and from the Munson Mine. According to the NJDEP’s GeoWeb maps, these railroad beds may be eligible for historic status in the future. There are also some mine sinkholes in this, so stay on the trail. The Blue Trail forks off to the right in this vicinity and loops around the far side of the hill, meeting up again with the White Trail at the peak. So, both trails lead to the overlook.

View of Dover, NJ, from the overlook at Mountain Park.

The vista at the top of Mountain Park looks to the north, with the Gunther Mill building towards the center view. The Dover rail yard is just out of sight below. The rocky outcrop provides good places to sit while enjoying this beautiful scenic view. But be careful. The spot appears to attract underage or thoughtless drinkers who leave trash, empty beer bottles, and broken glass strewn about. It is an unfortunate distraction to an otherwise peaceful spot.

Another feature of the park that visitors might miss is the broad variety of the trees that populate this forest sanctuary and the many different birds they attract. Among the trees I identified along a portion of the trail were Red Oak, various species of Maple, American Beech, Sweet Birch, Swamp Chestnut Oak, Smooth Adler, and Black Oak. I’m sure there are others.  A future enhancement to Mountain Park might be a project to identify and label the many different trees along the trails for the educational benefit of school children and adults interested in learning to identify them.