To protect public health in the neighborhoods surrounding the Garfield Avenue Group of Sites during their chromium cleanup, PPG implemented a dust-control program.

From midyear 2010 to the substantial completion of excavation and backfilling activities in November 2021, the airborne concentrations of hexavalent chromium were less than 15 percent of the limit permitted by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. The limit, otherwise known as the acceptable air concentration, was 49 nanograms per cubic meter of air.

In fact, airborne concentrations of hexavalent chromium during the digging up and hauling away of more than 1 million tons of chromium-impacted soil and debris were essentially the same as before the cleanup began.

That’s according to the final air-monitoring report on the effectiveness of the dust-suppression plan, which is based on the results from a combination of fixed and portable air monitors that operated on the fence line of the sites.

Among the exposure-prevention measures were:

• Water misting work areas to suppress dust;
• Restricting open-air soil stockpiles;
• Spraying surfaces with dust-suppression materials;
• Limiting truck traffic to paved areas on-site;
• Pressure-washing trucks in protected areas before exiting sites; and
• Covering open excavations when not being worked.

For more details about dust suppression and air quality at the Garfield Avenue Group of Sites during the cleanup, contact the Site Administrator.