Superfund Sites In New Jersey Awaiting Cleanup For 40 Years Or More; W. EPA Gutted, Remediation Grinding To A Halt
New Jersey is home to nearly 9 percent of the nation’s Superfund sites—more than any other state. They range from chemical plants with toxic byproducts leached into the soil, to oil-filled lagoons, open fields rife with septic waste and rivers polluted with toxic chemicals. Many have remained contaminated for decades. In January, President Donald Trump signed a bill allocating $8.8 billion for the Environmental Protection Agency for the 2026 fiscal year. Within that budget, congressional appropriations specifically for the Superfund Program were set at $282.75 million—a 47 percent reduction from the previous year.
EDIT
But they haven’t yet lived up to expectations. The EPA’s budget documents show roughly $1.2 billion in total Superfund tax receipts in 2024—less than half of the $2.5 billion estimated in the 2024 budget request. In 2025, tax receipts amounted to $1.6 billion—26 percent below the administration’s original budget projections. That revenue is now also being targeted. On February 12, Republicans introduced a new bill that aims to cut the “polluter pays” tax on petroleum and oil that Superfund relies on, even as the Trump Administration sought in its 2026 budget proposal to fully transition from Congressional appropriations to the polluter taxes only. Since the bill was introduced, there have been no hearings or votes scheduled. Prospects for passage are uncertain.
EDIT
The EPA disputes claims that its Superfund work is slowing. In a statement, the agency said staffing levels fluctuate due to “normal workforce dynamics, including retirements, voluntary departures, internal mobility, and scheduled hiring,” and that it remains “fully capable of accomplishing our mission of cleaning up Superfund sites to protect human health and the environment.” The agency said that there have been no delays in cleanup progress thus far, and that it is working to accelerate Superfund projects. U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone Jr., a New Jersey Democrat and longtime environmental policy leader, however, said the situation on the ground tells a different story. “Trump’s EPA has already reduced the regional staff responsible for New Jersey by one third, making the progress we need nearly impossible,” Pallone said. “Delaying cleanups only makes them more expensive. We should be speeding up Superfund cleanups, not slowing them down.”
The Passaic River site in Newark—polluted by numerous companies, including a chemical company that made Agent Orange and other herbicides—has been on the National Priorities List, a register of the country’s most contaminated sites, for over 40 years, with no end in sight for remediation on the lower end of the river. Delays in testing the river’s sediment have taken so long that areas of site needed to be retested, according to Michele Langa, staff attorney at NJ/NY Baykeeper. The samples are only good for a limited time. She estimates five to eight years before results are expired and tests would need to be repeated for accuracy. The Ringwood Mines in Passaic County, polluted by paint sludge and other waste from a Ford Motor Co. car plant that closed in 1980, became a Superfund site in 1983. It was deleted in 1994, and re-opened in 2006 after more pollution was discovered. The EPA has only now a blueprint for cleanup as of October 2025.
EDIT
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/09052026/epa-cuts-threaten-new-jersey-superfund-sites-cleanup/