Toms River Mayor Dan Rodrick and the township council have hired a law firm to fight the State of New Jersey and BASF Chemical Corp, the current owner of the Ciba-Geigy federal Superfund site, in court.
The township chose the Law Firm Of Donald F. Burke as special counsel to prevent the state plan to allow the company to build on 250 acres of the Superfund site responsible for water pollution and cancer-related deaths and illnesses throughout the township.
“We need a law firm highly skilled in litigation,” said Mayor Rodrick. “The last administration wanted to use our in-house attorney, but we need a firm that can concentrate fully on this matter because it is that important to make sure we continue to fight for the rights of those affected by generations of sickness and death caused by the complete negligence of the Ciba-Geigy plant over the past 50 plus years.”
Rodrick noted the cancer cluster, which made Toms River a household name nationwide, second only to the Flint, Michigan water crisis.
“Residents died. Residents got sick. They are still dealing with lost loved ones and illnesses, and the state wants to reward BASF by allowing them to build homes and playgrounds on a site that everyone in Toms River knows caused nothing but problems and sickness for our community,” Rodrick said. “We need to stop all development on the site, and it should be turned over to the state as a Wildlife Management Area. These greedy corporations destroyed our water supply and negligently dumped deadly chemical waste in pits in barrels. We owe it to allow this site to return to its original natural state.”
The mayor said the state and the current owner want to simply turn the page on the site’s ugly history and move on, without any consideration for the damages caused.
Rodrick received opposition to the hire by Councilmembers James Quinlisk and Tom Nivison, who refused to vote in favor of the resolution to hire an outside lawyer to fight the state.
Toms River has joined forces with Save Barnegat Bay. Rodrick said the case, under the former administration, was nearly tossed out of court under the previously appointed lawyer but was allowed back in after an appeal.
“We don’t want to mess this up,” Rodrick said. “We almost lost our right to fight this, and it’s too important to lose on a technicality. We need to stop the development of Ciba Geigy, and we chose a law firm that has a reputation for being a competent, successful, and fierce litigator.”