CAMDEN, N.J. (KYW Newsradio) — A massive contaminated dirt pile in the middle of a Camden neighborhood has been cleared and testing will soon begin on the soil below.
It took crews over two years to clear out the once towering pile of dirt, a remarkable transformation of this full city block at 6th and Chestnut Street. Camden Mayor Vic Carstarphen says this was an enormous job.
“At a rate of roughly 50 truckloads per day, contractors removed over 2000 loads of soil, 500 loads of construction debris, 100 tons of tires, and more than 4,000 tons of trash, plastic, and solid waste,” he said.
Kandyce Perry, Director of the DEP Office of Environmental Justice, says this kind of thing should never happen again in Camden.
“Nor should it happen anywhere else,” she said. “No one deserves to be dumped upon and for a blind eye to be turned.”
The next step is testing soil below ground and proposing a plan to remediate any problems before figuring out a permanent solution for the site.
Through it all, Carstarphen says he promised the residents they would do the right thing.
“We, as a community, as a city, as an administration, we said we are going to make this happen,” he said. “We’re going to figure it out and we’re going to clear this.”
There is no plan yet for the site and those discussions haven’t begun, but Carastarphen says the community will certainly have a say in what happens here next.