Residents Skeptical of DuPont's Bid for Permit Change in Pompton Lakes, NJ Cleanup

August 6, 2010 - DuPont has asked the state to alter a key permit for its cleanup of contaminated groundwater in Pompton Lakes, a move that some residents and environmentalists say could reduce the public's oversight of DuPont's cleanup efforts.

The permit is tied to a pump-and-treat system that DuPont installed in 1998 to remove the toxic solvents PCE and TCE from groundwater under the company's property and halt its spread as a contaminated groundwater plume under neighboring homes.

The solvents have been linked in studies to certain cancers, and last winter a state study found elevated levels of those cancers among residents in the neighborhood above the contaminated groundwater plume, though the state could not conclusively link the higher levels to the plume.

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