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EPA Warns Trespassers to Steer Clear of Abandoned Papermill While the Agency Does Its Work

Release Date: 06/22/2007
Contact Information: Elizabeth Totman (212) 637-3662, [email protected]

(New York, N.Y.) Earlier this week, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency began work at the James River Paper Co., formerly known as the Curtis Paper Mill facility, located in the Town of Milford, New Jersey to address immediate threats at the site and to evaluate potential risks. The Agency is asking that people not enter the property, which has been abandoned for three years, while it continues its assessment.

“While it doesn’t look like this property poses a risk to the surrounding community, we are concerned about trespassers,” said Alan J. Steinberg, EPA Regional Administrator. “We have not fully assessed all of the buildings and we believe they may contain dangerous substances.”

The EPA has taken steps to secure the site by repairing and installing new fencing and posting warning signs. The EPA will continue its detailed evaluation of the property. To date, the Agency has identified three abandoned paper thickness measuring devices that contain radioactive materials, as well as various containers of unknown chemicals located on both the inside and outside of the facility buildings.

The EPA plans to remove the radioactive materials, and will further evaluate and address any other threats to public health and the environment that may be present on the facility.

For further information on the Superfund program, please go to https://www.epa.gov/region02/superfund

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