Scientists seek best way to clean up the toxic Passaic River in New Jersey.

Publication: The Record (Hackensack, New Jersey) (via Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News)

Bookmark this article Print this article Link to this article Email this article Digg It! Add to del.icio.us RSS

COPYRIGHT 2004 The Record

Byline: Alex Nussbaum

Nov. 20--As Bob Chant squeezed through the gap in the chain-link fence, it was clear how little respect the Passaic River has gotten.

Chant, a Rutgers University oceanographer, was in Newark on Friday to study the river and answer what may be one of New Jersey's costliest questions: how best to deal with the toxic muck that fouls it.

Contaminated for centuries by industry and sewage, the Passaic now holds a toxic stew of PCBs, dioxins and other chemicals in its riverbed. Environmentalists say the only way to save the river is to dredge it. But that could cost hundreds of millions of dollars -- and some wonder if it might even do more harm than good.

Chant and his colleagues are looking for answers.

But first, the scientist had to navigate an industrial wasteland. Seeking the river, Chant...

Read the full article for free courtesy of your local library.