The site is still being utilized by the FAA, NJ Air National Guard 177th Fighter Wing, elements of the Department of Homeland Security, US Coast Guard Atlantic City air station, and SJTA Atlantic City International Airport. All of these agencies utilize the areas located within the site in much the same way as they have been used since the 1930’s when the area was first used as a Naval airbase.
The Superfund process does help to prevent areas of concern from affecting human and ecological health from suffering. Since this Superfund location is found on an area run by federal agencies, the funding was essentially provided by taxpayers. The IAG required that the FAA provide the money required for the cleanup through their budgetary process. The money was not coming from CERCLA trust funds. After the reauthorization of CERCLA in 1986 by SARA, the funds needed to maintain the Superfund process were obtained through taxes on chemical and petroleum industries. This tax expired in 1995 and the funds accumulated up to that time ran out in 2003. Since that time the funds required for the continuation of the Superfund process have been provided by either by Potentially Responsible Parties or taxpayers. Work completed by PRP is fully funded by the PRP, while sites that the PRP cannot be located or identified are funded by taxpayers, or funds accumulated from other PRP’s. The original tax on the chemical and petroleum industries should be reinstated, as this is where all Superfund cleanup projects stem from.
I was able to contact Bill Roach the EPA contact person for the FAA Tech Center Superfund cleanup site, and he was able to provide me with the most recent 5 year review, as well as the contact information for his counterpart Keith Buch who is the FAA superfund cleanup project manager. I contacted Keith Buch in hopes of attaining pictures of the various sites listed within the FAA superfund cleanup, but I was unable to attain these due to 9/11 security laws. I searched for articles involving the FAA’s William J. Hughes Technical Center and the Superfund cleanup, but was unable to find any news articles relating the two. There were articles about the tech center itself, but nothing that would be appropriate to this project.
