Horseshoe Road Superfund Site

This is a heavily contaminated abandoned industrial site on the Raritan River, a toxic chemical processing site, vacated because of heavy contamination and illegall dumping practices. It consists of several crumbling buildings, the remains of chemical incinerators, acid vats, toxic storage tanks, ammonia dumps, and a number of other chemical dumping areas. As early as 1939, the 15 acre site has seen toxic material processing, primarily as recovery center engaged in extracting chemicals and minerals from industrial waste material. For example, scrap circuit boards were mined for precious metals by dipping them into sodium cyanide baths, and the recovered metal was then smelted into ingots. Companies that have operated at the site include Atlantic Resources, Atlantic Development, the International Recycling Company, Brodun Chemical, and Clover Chemical. Operations were suspended in the 1980's, and the site was listed on the Superfund list of the EPA. Dumping areas on site contain "tar-like piles," and ooze "unknown gelatinous substances," according to a governement report. The report continues: "Employee documentation...revealed that Atlantic Resources workers were directed to : (1) dump drums of unknown materials into the Raritan River; (2) dump drums of potassium cyanide, nitric, muriatic, and hydrochloric acid, and 30% hydrogen peroxide into the wooded area behind Horseshoe Road; and (3) strip gold and silver with nitric acid at night so that area residents and enforcement agencies would not be alerted by the toxic "ruby red fumes" that are emitted by the process."