"NEWARK — A $165 million agreement reached by the federal government with one of the companies potentially responsible for contaminating a stretch of the Passaic River will allow early stages of cleanup to begin on one of the nation's most polluted bodies of water, officials said.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has negotiated a legal agreement with the Occidental Chemical Corporation to perform engineering and design work needed to begin the cleanup, a release from the EPA said. The work will take place in the lower 8.3 miles of the Passaic River, which runs from Newark Bay to the Newark/Belleville border.

OCC will spend $165 million, the release said, to create sampling and quality assurance plans, evaluate removal technologies, and carry out the engineering work necessary to move forward with the actual clean up."

Michael Anthony Adams reports for the Newark Star-Ledger October 5, 2016. [2]

SEE ALSO:

"The EPA Gets Closer To Cleaning Up One Of The Nation’s Most Polluted Rivers" (Washington Post) [3]

"Occidental To Pay $165M Toward Passaic River Cleanup But $1B More Needed" (Bergen Record) [4]