The meeting was pretty well attended by town residents. Honestly, I thought a few more fishermen might have decided to come down, but the ones that came made some good points and raised some important questions.

Blanche from town hall coordinated all the questions and answers, she did a great job.


Overview:

The EPA officials presented the findings, showed us some maps of where the contamination was found, and talked about the areas that would be closed. They were helpful in answering almost everyone's questions, and offered to come back, sit in on meetings in the future, and keep a dialogue going. There were websites and hotlines posted so people could get the latest info and findings. When that stuff becomes available, I'll post it here. I'll also post the links.

I'm trying to do this by being fair and balanced, and present the good with the bad. I don't think it's smart for anyone who writes about this, whether in the newspapers, magazines, or internet forums, to talk about how the sky is falling. Yeah, the contamination there is serious. If a diligent effort was made to dig soil samples, I would guess there might be some levels of chemical contamination at many points of the Raritan Bay. You could also probably go to any bay near a major metropolitan area along the East Coast and find some level of chemical contamination, somewhere. Chemicals have been dumped down storm sewers and in rivers for years without thought of the consequences. Unfortunately, they wind up in the bays and estuaries.

Realistically, the levels of lead contamination from Sayreville to Cliffwood are horrendously above the recommended maximums. This closure could very well be one of the largest Superfund sites in recent years. There's no way to sugercoat this. From the charts they presented to us, IMO this thing will get a lot bigger than reported by the time they're done with all the testing. I feel this is just the tip of the iceberg.

However, since I started reporting on stuff like this, I realized we who report have an ethical responsibility.

Reporting the truth is admirable. Reporting the truth so it panics people is not being fair and balanced, in my opinion. So I hope this story I'm laying down here will come out as fair and balanced.

I try my best, but anyone who has any factual corrections to what I report here, please let me know and I will edit. I don't want to scare people here. If some of my words mobilize people to take action to get this place cleaned up sooner rather than later, I will feel I've made a contribution. Thanks for reading, people.