Misplaced Pages

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26-576: The creek is named for Major John Berry , an early British settler and Deputy Governor of New Jersey . Settlement of New Jersey by European colonists began in the 17th century. Increasing settlements in the early 19th century were accompanied by human alterations to the land in the Hackensack meadowlands, such as clearing forests; building roads, railroads and ditches; and filling wetlands. The Second Industrial Revolution led to construction of heavy manufacturing, storage tanks, and chemical processing plants in

52-670: A 5.5-year plan to remove and/or cap the toxic waste in the creek and watershed resulting from the Ventron/Velsicol site discharges. EPA began the final remedial action for the Scientific Chemical site in 2020, and estimates that construction will be completed in 2026. Portions of the Universal Oil Products site have been cleaned up and removed from the Superfund list, but other portions remain contaminated as of 2024. Through

78-531: A chemical processing firm in Wood-Ridge and Carlstadt, discharged untreated waste, including mercury , into the creek between 1929 and 1960. In 1960 Berk sold its 40 acres (16 ha) property to Wood Ridge Chemical Corporation, a subsidiary of Velsicol Chemical Corporation , and the waste discharges continued. In the 1960s the New Jersey Department of Health conducted tests of the plant effluent, although

104-602: Is a government agency in the U.S. state of New Jersey that is responsible for managing the state's natural resources and addressing issues related to pollution. NJDEP now has a staff of approximately 2,850. The department was created on April 22, 1970, America's first official Earth Day , making it the third state in the country to combine its environmental activities into a single, unified agency, with about 1,400 employees in five divisions, charged with responsibility for environmental protection and conservation efforts. Governor William T. Cahill appointed Richard J. Sullivan as

130-435: Is to speed up and increase the pace of remediation, thus helping to decrease the threat of future contamination. A solid and hazardous waste management program is responsible for conducting educational and public relations campaigns on behalf of recycling, although its activities have been reduced since funding cuts in the mid-1990s. The Division of Parks and Forestry protects state and private lands from wildfire , manages

156-537: The New Jersey Turnpike (1952), as well as the Meadowlands Sports Complex (1970s). Tide gates were installed in the 1960s to control flooding, and these installations altered the water levels and flows, which consequently altered the ecosystem. The filling of wetlands during the 20th century amounted to a 63% loss of wetlands in the watershed. Berry's Creek is largely a tidal estuary , along with

182-578: The Universal Oil Products site in East Rutherford—as Superfund sites. EPA and NJDEP began detailed assessment and initial cleanup activities on these sites in the 1980s. Contaminated soil was removed and replaced at several properties in 1990, as an interim measure. but completion is projected to continue during the first quarter 21st century. In addition to mercury, all three sites are laden with PCBs . In October 2018 EPA announced

208-583: The Dept. of Health) filed a lawsuit against Ventron and other parties for violating the recently-enacted New Jersey Water Quality Improvement Act of 1971. The state enacted a new chemical spill law in 1977, the Spill Compensation and Control Act, and additional charges under this law were added to the lawsuit. In 1983 the New Jersey Supreme Court held that Ventron and Velsicol were jointly liable for

234-663: The Hackensack River. It rises at the East and West Riser Ditches in Teterboro , some of which is within the bounds of Teterboro Airport . The main channel of the creek runs for 4.5 miles (7.2 km), winding through Moonachie and Carlstadt . In East Rutherford , the creek forms the western boundary at Walden Marsh, of the Meadowlands Sports Complex . Additional portions of the creek are located in Wood-Ridge . Continuing under Route 3 ,

260-480: The area during the late 19th & early 20th centuries. Upland areas in the Berry's Creek watershed were developed by 1900. In the 1930s municipal sewage discharges began to contribute significant amount of pollutants to the creek and the Hackensack River. (All sewage pipes to the creek were removed by the 1990s.) Urbanization in the region intensified after World War II , with the expansion of roads and highways, including

286-461: The cleanliness of the air quality by enforcing air-pollutant standards imposed by the federal Environmental Protection Agency . Water monitoring and standards has the primary responsibilities of closely monitoring the state's fresh, marine , and ground waters , developing surface and ground water quality standards, and characterizing and assessing water quality. The gathered information, data, reports and analysis are used to inform organizations and

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312-525: The creek divides into the creek mainstem and Berry's Creek Canal . The canal was built in 1911, and runs in a straight line through East Rutherford to the Hackensack River. The creek mainstem enters Rutherford and then forms the boundary between Rutherford and Lyndhurst until it reaches the Hackensack. The Berry's Creek watershed is 12 square miles (31 km), which includes 1.6 square miles (4.1 km) of tidal waterways and marshes and 10.4 square miles (27 km) of highly-developed upland areas. Within

338-516: The early 1900s, the predominant plants in the watershed were freshwater species such as cattails and Atlantic white cedar . The plant composition began to change after construction of the Oradell Dam on the Hackensack River in 1921. The dam was built at the head of tide , which increased the salinity of Berry's Creek, and since then the marsh vegetation in has been composed predominately of Phragmites (Phragmites australis) . Berry's Creek harbors

364-413: The environmental damage. The creek has been measured as having the highest concentration of methyl mercury of any fresh-water sediment in the world. Between 1 and 2 g of mercury per kg of sediment were detected in samples. A total of discharge of 268 tons of mercury-contaminated toxic waste were discharged into the creek between 1943 and 1974. Wolf had demolished the former Ventron plant in 1974, but

390-619: The event of his inability to serve. Berry was married to Francina, with whom he had at least five children, including: Richard, Francina, Sarah, Hannah, John Berry. He is recalled in the name of a stream in the New Jersey Meadowlands , Berrys Creek , his descendants owned the historic Yereance-Berry House . This article about a New Jersey politician is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection ( NJDEP )

416-513: The first commissioner. In December 2017, Catherine McCabe was nominated by New Jersey governor-elect Phil Murphy to serve as Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. Shawn M. LaTourette succeeded her in January 2021. Other former Commissioners have included Lisa P. Jackson and Bradley M. Campbell . The major goal of the air quality division is to ensure

442-793: The island of Barbados . The land patent encompassed area between the Hackensack River and Saddle River in what is now Bergen County, New Jersey . From 1672 to 1673, Berry was the Deputy Governor of the Province of New Jersey while Governor Philip Carteret was in England. He later served in the East New Jersey Provincial Council through 1692. On 22 March 1679/80, Carteret designated Berry to succeed him as governor, with Councillor William Sandford designated to succeed Berry in

468-570: The last remaining northern harrier nest site in the Meadowlands. It is heavily used by wintering raptors . "The marshes of the Meadowlands provide many important wetland functions. More than 265 species of birds use the area, and the Meadowlands is recognized as a major link along the Atlantic Flyway for migratory species (especially shorebirds) and an important overwintering area for a variety of waterfowl... Waterway-associated birds occurring in

494-484: The metallic element chromium in the hepatopancreas of the local blue crab ( Callinectes sapidus ) population. NJDEP has issued advisories warning against harvesting or eating blue crabs from Berry's Creek, the entire Hackensack River watershed and Newark Bay . 40°47′12″N 74°05′06″W  /  40.7867°N 74.0849°W  / 40.7867; -74.0849 John Berry (New Jersey governor) John Berry ( c.  1619 – c.  1712 )

520-473: The newly-established U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) also began tests of the plant wastewater, and found there were daily discharges of two to four pounds of mercury into Berry's Creek. Neither the state nor EPA filed formal charges against the plant at that time. Plant operations ended in 1974, when Ventron sold the property to Robert M. Wolf, a real estate developer. In 1976, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP; successor to

546-433: The principal focus at that time was conventional pollutants , for which there were well-established analytical testing methods . (Some wastewater samples were analyzed for mercury, however the results were negative due to the insensitivity of the test method employed.) In 1968 the plant was sold to Ventron, which continued operations, although the company also began to study the environmental impacts of its discharges. In 1970

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572-470: The public to make better decisions on behalf of water usage. The land and open space division provides rules and includes information concerning wetlands , coastal , and stream/floodplain encroachment programs. The site remediation program requires all remediations in the state to proceed under the supervision of a licensed site remediation professional that they may follow the nine requirements set forth at N.J.S.A. 58:10B-1.3b. The goal of this program

598-438: The region include a variety of shorebirds, wading birds, waterfowl, and gulls." Significant fish species in the Meadowlands region are mummichog (Fundulus heteroclitus), white perch (Morone americana), Atlantic silverside (Menidia menidia) , gizzard shad (Dorosoma cepedianum), striped killifish (Fundulus majalis), and striped bass (Morone saxatilis). In November 1991 a water sample survey found high levels of

624-466: The residual pollution remained in the creek, rendering the site still unsustainable. The federal " Superfund " law was enacted by Congress in 1980 to provide for cleanup of hazardous waste sites, and was based on New Jersey’s 1977 spill cleanup law. EPA applied the new cleanup law in 1983 and 1984 as it designated the Ventron/Velsicol site and two nearby sites—the Scientific Chemical site in Carlstadt, and

650-432: The watershed are many commercial and light industrial sites, portions of the sports complex, several closed landfills , and many roads and highways. Walden Marsh was built in the 1980s adjacent to the sports complex, as part of environmental mitigation for flood prevention measures that were installed. Berry’s Creek was subject to extensive industrial pollution during the 19th and 20th centuries. F.W. Berk and Company,

676-742: Was an English colonist who migrated from Barbados to become an early major landowner, militia officer and Deputy Governor under the Lords Proprietor of the Proprietary Colony of New Jersey . Soon after British annexation of the Dutch province of New Netherland in 1664, Philip Carteret , governor of the proprietary colony of New Jersey , granted land to Captain John Berry in the area formerly known as Achter Kol . He soon took up residence and called it " New Barbadoes ," having previously resided on

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