Kiddie Kollege ready to be demolished

by: Jason Springer

Wed Dec 16, 2009 at 10:30:00 AM EST

I remember working in the 4th District Legislative office when mercury contamination was discovered at Kiddie Kollege, a former thermometer factory that was then housing a daycare facility. The horror those family members experienced was staggering to watch. Now years later, demolition is ready to begin on the site:

Cleanup and demolition are expected to begin soon for the former site of Kiddie Kollege, a day care center found to be contaminated with mercury in 2006, state legislators said Tuesday.

A crew is scheduled to being preliminary work on the project today

"I've been advised that the last bit of paperwork has been approved and that work crews should soon begin working full speed to demolish this facility and to begin cleaning the site," said Assemblyman Paul Moriarty, D-Gloucester.

The facility was shut down in 2006 when the state discovered it had been operating in a bankrupt thermometer factory for two years, even though the building was previously classified as a toxic site. There are still plenty of questions as to how that mixup was able to occur. How do you ensure this hasn't happened in other parts of the state at other facilities? Roughly 60 children tested positive for mercury exposure, and the building registered a level of mercury 27 times above acceptable limits. There have already been lawsuits over who is responsible and bills are still moving through the Legislature in response to this situation.

Jason Springer :: Kiddie Kollege ready to be demolished

Tags: mercury contamination, Paul Moriarty, Fred Madden, Kiddie Kollege, (All Tags)

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Kiddie Kollege ready to be demolished | 2 comments

Yes, amd I can recall breaking the story (4.00 / 1)

Do you recall the factually false and misleading press release issued by DEP Commisisoner Lisa Jackson and NJ Attorney General announcing the closure?

I worked with Sam Wood of the Philadelphia Inquirer to expose the real chronology - what DEP knew and when they knew it.

After 11 years of failure to enforce state cleanup laws at the site, DEP added insult to injury.

AFTER DEP discovered that the site was occupied as a day care center in the first week of April 2006, DEP failed to notify parents and the operator of the facility that for over 14 WEEKS that their kids were being exposed to extremely high levels of mercury.

Yet no one at DEP was fired, disciplined, or demoted or otherwise held accountable.

Lisa Jackson was promoted to EPA Adminstrator.

Irene Kropp, Assistant Commissioner who oversaw this coverup and later championed privatization of her failed program was called "the most credible person" in state government by Senate Environment Committee Chairman Bob Smith just LAST WEEK!

Right.

I will never forget this story - adnj I can't imagine how angry I'd be if I were a parent of one of those kids!.

by: Winston Smith @ Wed Dec 16, 2009 at 18:35:46 PM UTC

Let's Face It Winston.... (0.00 / 0)

.....the polluters have always been, pretty much, in charge in New Jersey.

Whatever good gets done re the environment is only done when there is massive pressure and bright lights and angry residents screaming.....left to their own devices the polluters and (most of) the pols don't give a shit about the people.....they just make sure they live in some ritzy place where it's relatively clean.

It all comes down to the legalized corruption of pay to play. The chemical industry/pharma virtually own this state.

Unless progressives take over the Democratic party establishment, nothing much will ever change......the Republicans and Christie sure as hell aren't going to do anything decent in this arena.......unless they are shamed/forced into it.

by: Nick Lento @ Wed Dec 16, 2009 at 18:48:54 PM UTC

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