News Releases from Region 02

EPA Finalizes Cleanup Plan to Address Lead Contamination in Soil at the Matteo & Sons, Inc. Superfund Site in West Deptford, New Jersey

WEST DEPTFORD, N.J. - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has finalized a cleanup plan to address lead and other contamination on a portion of the Matteo & Sons, Inc. Superfund Site in West Deptford, New Jersey. The portion of the Matteo site includes the Matteo facility at 1692 Crown Point Road as well as a property across the street formerly occupied by Mira Trucking. Former operations in this area of the Matteo site included crushing and recycling batteries and landfilling, which contaminated the soil, sediment and groundwater with lead, antimony and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).

“EPA’s Record of Decision calls for removing the main source of contamination within the Matteo site to address the potential exposure pathways,” said EPA Regional Administrator Pete Lopez. “All across our region, the Superfund program is working with state and local partners to consult with communities, accelerate cleanups and make progress on potential site reuse and redevelopment.”

EPA held a public meeting in July 2019 to explain its cleanup proposal, discuss the other cleanup options that were considered, and to solicit public comments. To read the EPA’s selected cleanup plan, outlined in a Record of Decision, and to view EPA’s responses to public comments in the Responsiveness Summary, please visit: www.epa.gov/superfund/matteo-and-sons

The EPA’s Record of Decision calls for digging up and properly disposing of battery casing waste and contaminated soil within the Matteo facility and the property formerly occupied by Mira Trucking that poses a potential risk to people’s health. The final plan requires that excavated areas then be backfilled with clean fill and that contaminated soil within an approximately 10-acre active scrapyard area be covered with asphalt or similar material. EPA will sample the soil during the cleanup to ensure that the cleanup work is effective. EPA will conduct a review of the cleanup every 5 years to ensure its effectiveness. EPA will further assess options for addressing the sediment and groundwater after the completion of the soil cleanup. The estimated cost of the cleanup is $72,245,000. 

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