1905-1911
Chromite ore processing begins in Hudson County. With its proximity to one of America's busiest ports, Hudson County becomes a center for chrome production because most of the world's chrome reserves are located outside the United States. During the next 70 years, two plants in Jersey City and one in Kearny will help meet the nation's growing demand for chrome.

By 1911, the Natural Products Refining Company begins chrome production on the banks of the Morris Canal in Jersey City, which today is located near the intersection of the Hudson Bergen Light Rail tracks and Garfield Avenue. (See photo above.)

1954
PPG Industries acquires Natural Products Refining Company's Garfield Avenue plant and continues processing chromite ore.

1963
PPG ceases production at the Garfield Avenue plant because the company is constructing a new chromite ore processing facility with more advanced technology in Texas.

1964
PPG sells the Garfield Avenue plant. For many years prior to 1963, chromite ore processing residue was used as fill in construction projects.

1976
Chromite ore processing in Hudson County ends. During its lifetime, Hudson County's chrome industry generated approximately 2 million tons of residue, which was later determined to be a hazardous material.

1982
Jersey City and New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection begin identifying chromite ore processing residue sites.

1982-89
PPG installs a series of interim measures at the Garfield Avenue plant site to protect human health and the environment.

1986
PPG signs an administrative consent order with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. Under the terms of the agreement, PPG agrees to fund studies of sites contaminated with chromite ore processing residue.
1990
PPG signs an administrative consent order with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, accepting responsibility for the cleanup of 53 chromite ore processing residue sites. Later PPG voluntarily accepts responsibility for eight more sites. The company promptly begins cleanup work at residential sites.

1992
PPG completes the cleanup of all 37 residential sites. In addition, the company begins investigating non-residential sites, suspending operations in 1994 while the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection develops cleanup criteria for chromite ore processing residue at non-residential sites.

1995
Warehouse buildings constructed on former plant site at Garfield Avenue are abandoned.

1998
New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection announces cleanup criteria for chromite ore processing residue at non-residential sites, and PPG resumes work.

2001
Jersey City acquires the Garfield Avenue site when property owners fail to pay their tax obligations. With ownership settled, PPG begins investigating the nature and extent of chromite ore processing residue contamination at the site.

2002
PPG reaches a voluntary agreement with the city to demolish the buildings at the Garfield Avenue site, making it easier for the company to determine the nature and extent of the chromite ore processing residue contamination.



2003
Lafayette Village, built on two former chromite ore processing residue sites cleaned up by PPG, wins a Phoenix Award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for excellence in redevelopment of former industrial locations.

2004
At the Garfield Avenue site, PPG installs additional interim measures designed to provide further protection for human health and the environment.

2005
PPG resumes investigation of chromite ore processing residue contamination at the Garfield Avenue site after a two-year suspension while the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection reviews cleanup criteria for non-residential sites.

2006
PPG submits to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection the results of its investigation into the nature and extent of chromite ore processing residue contamination at the Garfield Avenue site. This report will serve as part of the basis for the final plan to clean up the site and prepare it for redevelopment.

2009
The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and PPG, in conjunction with Jersey City, sign a judicial consent order that establishes a process for the cleanup of the remaining 14 sites that PPG accepted under a 1990 administrative consent order as well as six additional sites for which the source of chrome is unknown and no responsible party had been identified. Michael McCabe, former deputy administrator for the United States Environmental Protection Agency, is appointed site administrator with oversight responsibilities for the agreement.

2010
Excavation begins at the main Garfield Avenue site. In addition, fence-line air monitoring commences.

2013
Using funds provided by PPG, the Jersey City Redevelopment Agency completes the excavation of chromium-impacted soil at Site Nos. 121 and 207, which are among the 11 properties to be developed into Berry Lane Park. The chromium cleanup was conducted in conjunction with JCRA’s cleanup of metals and petroleum. When it opens in 2016, Berry Lane Park becomes the largest city-owned park.

2014
Jersey City grants PPG a permit to close Carteret Avenue between Garfield Avenue and Halladay Street as cleanup activities expand south of the main Garfield Avenue site.

2016
Ronald Riccio, Jersey City native and dean emeritus of the Seton Hall Law School, is appointed site administrator by Superior Court.

2017
A report summarizing the results of a voluntary blood monitoring program administered by the Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute at the Rutgers School of Public Health confirms that the multiple and overlapping measures to prevent human exposure to chromium during PPG’s soil cleanup activities at the Garfield Avenue sites have been effective. In addition, PPG initiates groundwater extraction at the Garfield Avenue Site as part of the first phase of its groundwater cleanup.

2018
PPG continues with the first phase of its groundwater cleanup at the Garfield Avenue Site by initiating injections of water with added substrates. The substrate injections treat impacted groundwater by converting hexavalent chromium into its much less toxic trivalent form. Within the former main plant site, Site 114, PPG also continues groundwater extraction to help control the flow of groundwater. Extracted groundwater is conveyed to a treatment plant south of Carteret Avenue. Meanwhile, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection approves PPG’s Remedial Action Work Plan for soil at the Garfield Avenue Site.

2020
The final technical reports documenting the soil cleanups at numerous sites in the Garfield Avenue area are approved by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. This includes the former chromium processing plant property at 900 Garfield Avenue, otherwise known as Site 114, and the acreage surrounding it. Approval of the soil remediation at Site 114 is significant because this area is key to the Canal Crossing Redevelopment Plan. Meanwhile, the second phase of PPG’s groundwater cleanup at the Garfield Avenue Site commences.

2021
PPG’s chromium cleanup of the Garfield Avenue Group of Sites reaches a milestone when excavation at the Ten West site and surrounding properties is completed, meaning 99 percent of the soil requiring removal has been dug up and hauled away. Since midyear 2010, PPG has excavated approximately 1.1 million tons of chromium-impacted soil and debris from the Garfield Avenue Group of Sites.

2022
The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection approves the Remedial Investigation Report and Remedial Action Work Plan for groundwater at the Garfield Avenue Site at depths from just below ground surface to the top of the bedrock. Bedrock investigation activities continue throughout the year, and a draft Remedial Investigation Report is submitted to NJDEP at the end of the year.

2023
Only nine cleanup sites of the 25 that required remediation in January 2016 require additional work.