EPA Names NJ Scrap Yard to Superfund Site

The Matteo & Sons, Inc. site in Gloucester County, New Jersey is one of the most recent additions to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Superfund National Priorities List of the country’s most contaminated sites. Tests at the site showed significantly elevated levels of lead and PCBs in the surface soils and well above background, the levels one would expect to find, in sediments. The site will now be cleaned up under the federal Superfund program, designed to clean up sites and protect human health and the environment.

"When investigating the Matteo site, we discovered a dangerous source of lead contamination from crushed car batteries that could possibly impact nearby homes," said Alan Steinberg, EPA’s regional administrator. "We will make sure that this site is cleaned up under the strict guidelines of the Superfund program."

The Matteo & Sons, Inc. site is a scrap metal recycling operation and landfill with an area contaminated by crushed battery casings. The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, EPA, and Matteo & Sons, under NJDEP oversight, have all conducted investigations at the site.

NJDEP conducted sampling at the site from September 2000 to October 2002. EPA investigated the property in 2005 and 2006, which revealed crushed battery casings and lead contamination adjacent to a nearby trailer park. These investigations also documented extensive contamination of wetlands that could impact downstream fisheries. EPA and Mateo & Sons have also fenced off areas with high levels of lead and removed contaminated soil in certain areas of the trailer park to protect residents.