Washington - Following a report on Superfund sites released by the Center for American progress, U.S. Senators Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ) today called on the Environmental Protection Agency to account for the cleanup progress of five New Jersey sites where cleanup has been lagging behind. In a letter to EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson, the senators requested a detailed status update on cleanup projects at five specific New Jersey sites, including sites in Cumberland, Bergen and Middlesex counties.

"These sites threaten the health and well-being of New Jerseyans and are blights in our communities," Menendez said. "We will hold the EPA accountable to ensure these sites are properly cleaned in a timely matter, and we will pressure them to hold accountable those polluters who are responsible for spoiling our land and our cities."

People in New Jersey want our communities to be clean and safe, said Lautenberg. I will continue to insist that the EPA must clean up contaminated sites in our state and that polluters, not taxpayers, must pay for these cleanups.

The lawmakers requested a detailed accounting of how much money has been requested for cleanup, and how much money was actually made available at each of the sites for each of the past five years, and also the source of all money going into the cleanup activities at each site.

The cleanup sites include: Cornell Dublier Electronics, South Plainfield, Middlesex County; CPS/Madison Industries, Old Bridge Township, Middlesex County; Universal Oil Products, East Rutherford, Bergen County; Ventron/Velsicol, Wood-Ridge Borough, Bergen County; and, Vineland Chemical Co., Vineland, Cumberland County.

All too often our children are playing on polluted soil and drinking dirty water, the senators wrote. It should be one of the top priorities of the Environmental Protection Agency to ensure that these sites are cleaned up as quickly and as thoroughly as possible. No New Jerseyan no American should be forced to suffer the legacy of these sites because of a shortage of funding or will on the part of the government.

We hope that you share our goal of cleaning these sites as quickly as possible, and we look forward to your response.

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