EPA: 70 companies to clean NJ river

A group of companies suspected of polluting the Passaic River in New Jersey agreed to pay $20 million to clean up contaminated mud, the EPA announced. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said 70 companies agreed, at their expense, to remove around 432,000 cubic feet of mud contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls, mercury and dioxin. "This agreement triggers actions that will reduce exposure of people and wildlife to the highly toxic contaminants in the Passaic River sediment and keep it from spreading to other parts of the river," EPA Regional Administrator Judith Enck said in a statement. The agreement calls on the companies involved in the project to finance work to remove contaminated mud and install a protective cap over the area. Testing results would determine if larger scale remediation is needed, the EPA said. The dredging operation targets the 13 percent of the polluted mud that the EPA says is the most contaminated, The (Bergen County, N.J.) Record reports. The 70 companies involved in the settlement are doing business as the Lower Passaic Cooperating Parties Group.