League of Women Voters Event Tonight on Flood Impacts of Rahway Arch Project

The Union Area League of Women Voters will present a program on the controversial Rahway Arch project (in Carteret) at 7 p.m. Sept. 17 in the Cranford Community Center, 220 Walnut Ave., Cranford. Like all League programs, it is free and open to the public. 

Debbie Mans, New York/New Jersey Baykeeper, will be the speaker at the League program.

Soil Safe plans to “cap” the site by bringing in 2 million tons of soil contaminated with petroleum products mixed with an additive. Because this would be less permeable than at present and the cap would be higher than the existing level, critics have expressed fears that the project would increase flooding problems in communities along the river. The NY/NJ Baykeeper, ANJEC (Association of New Jersey Environmental Associations), Edison Wetlands and the Storm Water Advisory Board to the Rahway River Watershed are among those lined up in opposition to the project.

A graduate of the University of Michigan, with a law degree from Vermont Law School, Mans served as environmental and energy policy advisor for former Gov. Jon Corzine, who also appointed her to the New Jersey State Planning Commission. Before that, she was policy director for the NY/NJ Baykeeper. She became executive director in 2008.

Rahway Arch Properties and Soil Safe have been invited to send a representative to participate in the program.

The League of Women Voters is a non-partisan citizens organization open to all interested persons. For further information on the League, call (800) 792-VOTE or visit lwvnj.org. For information on the Union Area unit, call (908) 925-9784.