On what was once the front yard of Hans and Helena Tielmann's farm in Long Hill, chips of broken glass and steel reinforcing rods protrude from the soil. A contractor for the federal government dumped the contaminated dirt on the property as part of an effort to clean up the Superfund site, which is laced with asbestos. Environmental Protection Agency officials admitted the mistake only after the Tielmanns complained, and testing they paid for proved the topsoil was tainted. It was the couple's watchdog attitude that led to the catch, but not every Superfund site has a family living atop it to keep an eye on things. That's where a grant program administered by the EPA comes in handy and may help at a Superfund site in the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge.
Grants are available to groups in towns where there are hazardous waste Superfund sites.
It also serves the public interest well to know there is an outside agency doing that. EPA officials said they are reviewing the association's application. Eight other groups in areas of New Jersey with Superfund sites have been awarded grants, EPA Region 2 spokesman Rich Cahill said. The program was established in 1986 to encourage community involvement in the decision-making process at Superfund sites. The report suggested EPA officials re-examine the grant program and said information about the grants wasn't getting to community groups.