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Cost could range from $1 billion to $4 billion

The state Department of Environmental Protection has won another round in the legal fight to hold companies that polluted the lower Passaic River with pesticides and herbicides, including the Vietnam War-era defoliant Agent Orange, responsible for cleaning up the waterway.

State Superior Court Judge Sebastian P. Lombardi in Newark has ruled that Tierra Solutions Inc. is liable under the state Spill Compensation and Control Act for past and future costs of cleaning up the contamination that has polluted a large stretch of the Lower Passaic. Tierra Solutions is the current owner of the site of the former Diamond Alkali/Diamond Shamrock plant on Newark's Lister Avenue.

The ruling is the second in two months by Lombardi that holds companies responsible for the cleanup. On July 19, The judge ruled Occidental Chemical Corp. also is liable for cleanup costs under the Spill Act.

"Cleaning up the Lower Passaic is very important to the public health and safety of residents living in the many communities located along the river,'' DEP Commissioner Bob Martin said. "These rulings affirm New Jersey's firm stance that companies sued by the State must accept responsibility for the pollution they and their predecessors caused.

“The pollution of the Passaic River is widespread and will be extremely costly to clean up,” Martin added. “These costs must be borne by those companies that assumed responsibility for their properties, not by the taxpayers of New Jersey."

In each of the rulings, Lombardi determined that the companies are liable under the Spill Compensation and Control Act for all past and future cleanup and removal costs associated with hazardous discharges from the plant, which manufactured pesticides and herbicides from 1951 to 1969.

A trial to determine financial obligations of companies responsible for discharges from the plant is expected to be held next year.

Occidental Chemical Corp. purchased Diamond Shamrock Chemical Co. and merged the companies in the 1980s. Tierra acquired title to the property in 1986 and still owns the site.

River sediments are polluted with a dangerous form of dioxin known as 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzene (TCDD), as well as DDT and other chemicals that have resulted in a decades-old ban on consuming crabs from the lower Passaic and Newark Bay.