NJ Court Gives Go-Ahead to Clean up Tire Dump

The New Jersey Superior Court has given the state and the county board of freeholders permission to enter the Foster Farm property in Tabernacle, NJ, and begin shredding an estimated 1 million abandoned tires.

The work, intended to reduce the threat of the mosquito-borne West Nile virus, is expected to begin next week, county officials said.

The county has obtained a $321,500 grant from the state of New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection that will pay for most of the cleanup.

County officials said their biggest concern is to protect the health of their residents.

Shredding the tires will reduce standing water that lays in tires and becomes a breeding ground for mosquitoes, Freeholder William Haines Jr. said. Fred Mumford, a DEP spokesman who confirmed the Foster site is the largest remaining tire dump in the state, said there also is concern about a possible fire there.

The state initiated an effort to clean up the site in 1985, prompting court battles with the owner.

But Superior Court Judge Ronald Bookbinder has refused to grant the Foster family an injunction to block the work.

Freeholders on Wednesday awarded a $359,000 contract to Magnum Condemerx Corp. of Forked River. The firm submitted the lowest bid of five qualified contractors, said Mary Pat Robbie, director of the county resource conservation department. Courier-Post (New Jersey) Online