Roebling Steel Co.

Overview

The Roebling Steel Co. site covers about 200 acres in Florence Township, New Jersey. It operated as a steel manufacturing facility from 1905 until the 1980s. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) added it to the Superfund National Priorities List (NPL) in September 1983. Cleanup has been underway since 1990 and is divided into five separate areas called operable units (OUs), each targeting different parts of the contamination problem.

Steel production and later commercial operations left behind more than 140 identified contaminants. Heavy metals, including lead, chromium, cadmium, arsenic, and mercury, are present in soil, sediment, and groundwater. Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) such as trichloroethene, tetrachloroethene, and benzene were also found, along with pesticides like DDT, chlordane, aldrin, and dieldrin, plus polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and phthalates. Contamination reached the Delaware River, nearby creeks, and wetland sediments. Seventy on-site buildings held contaminated process dust, exposed asbestos, and hazardous wastes stored in tanks, piping, and sumps.

EPA and cleanup partners have worked through multiple phases over several decades. Workers removed asbestos from buildings and exterior piping in the late 1990s. Other completed actions include demolishing contaminated buildings, removing underground and aboveground storage tanks, capping soil in several areas, installing a shoreline retaining wall (finished November 2006), and dredging roughly 240,000 cubic yards of contaminated sediment from Crafts Creek and the Delaware River Back Channel (finished June 2013). Earlier OUs finished construction between 1992 and 2016. Redevelopment has already taken place on parts of the site, including a New Jersey Transit light-rail station completed in 2005, the Roebling Museum opened around 2009, and a 34-acre riverfront park capped and opened in 2014. As of December 2024, one business was operating on site.

Current conditions show human exposure is under control. Temporary controls prevent contact with contaminated soils across the site, and soil capping is complete in several specific areas. Groundwater migration is stabilized, and EPA has found no unacceptable discharge to surface water. The final design for capping remaining soils was completed in September 2024. EPA expects construction for groundwater monitoring, soil capping, and building decontamination and demolition to begin in 2025. The site has not yet reached construction completion or been deleted from the NPL. EPA conducted its fifth five-year review in April 2024 to confirm that protections remain effective.

Community members who want to stay informed or get involved can contact EPA's Community Involvement Coordinator, Shereen Kandil, or Remedial Project Manager, Tamara Rossi. Documents related to the cleanup are available at the EPA Superfund Records Center in New York City, the Roebling Public Library in Roebling, New Jersey, and the Florence Township Municipal Building in Florence, New Jersey.