To: Judith A. Enck, EPA Regional Administrator, Mary Lou Capichioni, Director, Corporate Remediation Services , Sherwin Williams, The New Jersey State House, The New Jersey State Senate, and Governor Phil Murphy
Kirkwood Lake Clean Up
We are writing this letter to ask for your help in the remediation and cleanup of Kirkwood Lake, part of a larger Super Fund Site. We need your assistance to expedite the EPA to provide a clear, more aggressive schedule for the whole site that accelerates the restoration of the lake. Kirkwood is a small community within the township of Voorhees, NJ. The beautiful Kirkwood Lake stretches from Lindenwold and into Voorhees. In its glory days, the lake was enjoyed by many residents of Philadelphia and Camden who enjoyed Kirkwood as a summer escape from the cities, and many Kirkwood homes were originally built as vacation homes.
Sadly, our lake is dying. It is suffering from long-lasting effects stemming from pollution caused from Lucas Paints and then Sherwin-Williams. In 1983 high levels of lead and other volatile chemicals were found in ground water, soil and sediment. The EPA designated this a large Superfund site from this contamination (EPA ID#: NJD980417976): “The Sherwin-Williams/Hilliards Creek site’s origin is located in Gibbsboro, Camden County, New Jersey. The Sherwin-Williams/Hilliards Creek site includes, but is not limited to, contaminated soil and ground water on the former Lucas Paint Works Plant (Lucas plant) and contaminated soil, sediment, and surface water associated with Hilliards Creek. Hilliards Creek, also known as Millard Creek, flows southwesterly ….and continues west to Kirkwood Lake.” (EPA Website) It took 25 years before EPA finalized this site in 2008 for the Superfund National Priorities List.
Since then, to us, as residents, the word priority does not really mean much. What it has actually meant is years of testing, delayed deadlines, frustrations, and being told that it could be another ten years, even twenty, before our lake is even considered for remediation. In the meantime, the lake suffers from very shallow waters and heavy growth precipitated by a new dam placed at the end of the lake in 2008 to prevent down-stream contamination. The lake is inundated with Spatterdocks, an invasive species that grows in slow moving waters. Homes in the area have lost value, and do not sell, because the land they are on is tainted with lead and arsenic. And no one DOES anything except us, the citizens. In 2012, a small group of local Kirkwood residents lead by Alice Johnston formed the Kirkwood Lake Environmental Committee (KLEC). We have started a Facebook page (www.facebook.com/KirkwoodLakeCleanUp), held cleanup events and Naturalist-led nature walks of the surrounding wooded areas, held educational events and meetings. We have paid for posters, flyers, business cards (all with our own personal money) engaged the media and citizens alike. With assistance from our local Mayors and Freeholder Jeffrey Nash, we have been introduced to other officials and are organizing meetings with leaders to try to resolve this issue, but all goes back to the EPA. Camden County and Municipalities cannot do anything without the aid of the EPA and Sherwin Williams.
What we need now-from you- is action. We ask that you contact the EPA and Sherwin Williams and pressure them to provide a clearer, more aggressive schedule for the entire site that accelerates the restoration of Kirkwood Lake, i.e., move the timeline up! This timeline is unacceptable to the residents not only of Kirkwood Lake, but to the residents of all the areas affected by this Superfund site.
Sadly, our lake is dying. It is suffering from long-lasting effects stemming from pollution caused from Lucas Paints and then Sherwin-Williams. In 1983 high levels of lead and other volatile chemicals were found in ground water, soil and sediment. The EPA designated this a large Superfund site from this contamination (EPA ID#: NJD980417976): “The Sherwin-Williams/Hilliards Creek site’s origin is located in Gibbsboro, Camden County, New Jersey. The Sherwin-Williams/Hilliards Creek site includes, but is not limited to, contaminated soil and ground water on the former Lucas Paint Works Plant (Lucas plant) and contaminated soil, sediment, and surface water associated with Hilliards Creek. Hilliards Creek, also known as Millard Creek, flows southwesterly ….and continues west to Kirkwood Lake.” (EPA Website) It took 25 years before EPA finalized this site in 2008 for the Superfund National Priorities List.
Since then, to us, as residents, the word priority does not really mean much. What it has actually meant is years of testing, delayed deadlines, frustrations, and being told that it could be another ten years, even twenty, before our lake is even considered for remediation. In the meantime, the lake suffers from very shallow waters and heavy growth precipitated by a new dam placed at the end of the lake in 2008 to prevent down-stream contamination. The lake is inundated with Spatterdocks, an invasive species that grows in slow moving waters. Homes in the area have lost value, and do not sell, because the land they are on is tainted with lead and arsenic. And no one DOES anything except us, the citizens. In 2012, a small group of local Kirkwood residents lead by Alice Johnston formed the Kirkwood Lake Environmental Committee (KLEC). We have started a Facebook page (www.facebook.com/KirkwoodLakeCleanUp), held cleanup events and Naturalist-led nature walks of the surrounding wooded areas, held educational events and meetings. We have paid for posters, flyers, business cards (all with our own personal money) engaged the media and citizens alike. With assistance from our local Mayors and Freeholder Jeffrey Nash, we have been introduced to other officials and are organizing meetings with leaders to try to resolve this issue, but all goes back to the EPA. Camden County and Municipalities cannot do anything without the aid of the EPA and Sherwin Williams.
What we need now-from you- is action. We ask that you contact the EPA and Sherwin Williams and pressure them to provide a clearer, more aggressive schedule for the entire site that accelerates the restoration of Kirkwood Lake, i.e., move the timeline up! This timeline is unacceptable to the residents not only of Kirkwood Lake, but to the residents of all the areas affected by this Superfund site.
Why is this important?
To expedite clean up action on Kirkwood Lake.