Cranford Community Center to Host Program on Rahway Arch Project

The following information was provided by the Union Area League of Women Voters.

On Sept. 17, the Union Area League of Women Voters will preset a program on Rahway Arch project beginning at 7 p.m.

The controversial Rahway Arch project aims to cap a site in Carteret near the mouth of the Rahway River that was once used as a waste disposal area by American Cyanamid plant in Linden. A cap was created at the site when the plant closed, but has since eroded.

Currently, there are six areas containing chemical sludge mixtures, according to the League, the capping of the Rahway Arch would conducted by a Maryland company, Soil Safe, that specializes in recycling soils contaminated with petroleum products and heavy metals.

Soil Safe plans to cap the site with a mixture of soil contaminated with petroleum and mixed with cement. Bringing more contaminated soil to the site has received skepticism from many who believe this would increase flooding problems in communities along the Rahway River.

New York/New Jersey Baykeeper, Debbie Mans, will be the speaker at the program. Mans holds a degree from the University of Michigan and a law degree from Vermont Law School. She has served as the environmental and energy policy advisor for former Gov. Jon Corzine, who later appointed her to the NJ State Planning Commission. Additionally, Mans was policy director for the NY/NJ Baykeeper before taking the executive director role in 2008.

Rahway Arch Properties and Soil Safe have been invited to send representatives to this event.