Ex-owner of toxic site won't pay

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Ex-owner of toxic site won't pay

Thursday, November 30, 2000

By DEENA YELLIN

Staff Writer

The former owner of a defunct Northvale factory where more than 760 drums of

toxic chemicals were discovered has refused to pay any of the $1.6 million

cost to clean up the site.

, once president of TECT Inc., says he should not be held

responsible for any of the cleanup of the chemicals on the property in the

heart of downtown.

In a letter to the state Department of Environmental Protection,

denied having anything to do with burying the drums while he led the company

in the 1960s.

That contradicts an interview gave The Record in July, in which he

admitted he buried the 55-gallon drums because he didn't know what else to

do with them. He told the paper he did not realize that burying them would

be a safety threat.

's denials angered Northvale Mayor E. Rooney. " It's absolutely

ridiculous that he says he's not responsible, " Rooney said. " Everyone knows

he did it. The evidence is piling up. "

Rooney said the state should pursue " with everything in their

power. "

, a chemist, is now president of Alacer Corp., a successful vitamin

manufacturing company in Foothill Ranch, Calif. He has said he expects the

company to earn $24 million this year.

's refusal to pay any of the cost of the cleanup -- currently at $1.6

million and climbing -- gives the state the opportunity to pursue triple

damages from him in court, said Boyle, director of the DEP's Division

of Responsible Party Site Remediation.

One way or another, the state will force to pay for the damage, said

n Ruane, an attorney representing the DEP. The DEP is investigating

and TECT in case the matter ends up in court, he said.

" We are investigating his involvement at the site and are interviewing

people who were formerly at TECT and investigating other parties that may be

responsible, including those who generated the materials that were in the

drums, " Ruane said. " We have to make sure our facts are in order before we

file a complaint. "

Neither nor his attorney, Berger of Hackensack, could be

reached Tuesday.

During the 1960s, TECT manufactured and distributed cleaning solvents. The

company went bankrupt in 1971.

In the decades since, the drums buried on the site leaked, contaminating the

soil with TCE, PCE, methylene chloride, and other toxic solvents. Samples

from groundwater monitoring wells on the site found concentrations of a

toxic solvent at more than 9,100 times the state standard for what is

considered safe.

Local and state officials have known about the contamination since 1982, but

they could not do anything about it because the property owners who had

taken over the land after TECT's departure refused to cooperate. When

Northvale foreclosed on the property three years ago, the town agreed to

take on the cleanup and has secured state and federal grants to cover costs

of the project.

The cleanup began in March. Some drums still have to be removed, and one

more building must be demolished. That should be completed next month, said

Joe Hochreiter, vice president of BBL of Syracuse, N.Y., the parent company

of the engineering consulting firm handling the project.

The final stage of investigation, which involves installing monitoring wells

to find out how far groundwater contamination has spread, can be conducted

after the property is sold, he said.

The property can be sold as early as January, he said.

Rooney, who says the borough has received several offers for the property,

is optimistic that the 2.1-acre site on Livingston Street will find a buyer.

" The sooner we can get it back on the tax rolls the better, " Rooney said. He

already has a figure in mind -- $500,000 -- with which he will begin the

bidding when the property is put up for auction.

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