JERSEY CITY, N.J., Jan. 21, 2010 – Site Administrator Mike McCabe provided details tonight of a program that enables residents living near PPG Industries chromium cleanup sites to request an inspection of their homes if they suspect chromium waste is in or on their property.

Speaking to an audience of more than 50 residents and other interested parties at the Mary McLeod Bethune Life Center, McCabe said homes within 400 feet of PPG cleanup sites in Jersey City and Bayonne are eligible for the program as well as homes south of Bramhall Avenue, west of Halladay Street, east of Ocean Avenue and north of Bayview Avenue in Jersey City. He added residential-related properties located within these boundaries, such as daycare centers, school and playgrounds, are also eligible.

McCabe said residents could request inspections beginning the next day, using English and Spanish -language forms that were provided at the meeting and are available on the Chromium Cleanup Partnership’s Web site. Other methods of requesting inspections include:

• Calling or faxing the partnership at 201-777-2099;

• Sending an e-mail to inspection@chromecleanup.com; or

• Mailing a letter to the Chromium Cleanup Partnership, P.O. Box 15981, Jersey City, N.J. 07305   

Residential property inspection, testing and/or remediation will be assigned the highest priority in his scheduling of site work, said McCabe, the independent, court-appointed site administrator responsible for “facilitating” PPG’s chromium cleanups.

Flanking McCabe during his presentation were Brian McPeak, site administrator/project manager; Prabal Amin, independent technical consultant to the site administrator; Tom Cozzi of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and Scott Mikaelian of AECOM, consultant to PPG.  

Through the 1970s, chromate refining operations in Hudson County generated approximately 2 million tons of a waste product known as chromate chemical production waste or CCPW, which contains hexavalent chromium.  

CCPW is solid material that often has the characteristics of dirt and was widely used as residential and commercial construction fill material in Jersey City.