Asbestos in New Jersey

Asbestos Exposure in New Jersey

Cities such as Paterson and Trenton expanded the most, developing many new factories to produce electrical equipment, processed food and chemicals. As the most densely populated state in the nation, New Jersey also ranked eighth nationally for the most deaths from mesothelioma and asbestosis from 2012 to 2013.

In June 2021, a bill to help homeowners remove asbestos from their homes was cleared through the state’s Senate Environment and Energy Committee. The bill would allow taxpayers to deduct up to $25,000 from gross income tax for asbestos and lead removal. The bill passed the Assembly in March 73-0, and is waiting to be voted on by the Senate.

New Jersey’s Occupations and Areas at Risk

Many of New Jersey’s prominent industries, including chemical development, textile manufacturing, shipping and railroad development exposed workers to large quantities of toxic asbestos. Sixteen of the state’s thriving manufacturing plants employed over 102,700 individuals and the eight shipyards in New Jersey employed 376,200 workers. These people often encountered asbestos in the walls or machinery in their workplace.

Employees of oil, power and chemical plants also faced the risk of asbestos exposure at their workplaces. One study published in the American Journal of Public Health suggested that as many as 486,400 individuals had been substantially exposed to asbestos in New Jersey workplaces since World War II began.

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The Johns Manville Products Corporation

Johns Manville Products Corporation opened its first insulation plant in central New Jersey in the early 1900s.

The company, which provided millions of dollars to industrial development, became one of the most notorious names in asbestos litigation. Johns Manville officials knew about the toxicity of asbestos as early as the 1930s, but they continued to use the inexpensive mineral in the company’s products for the next 50 years.

Under the pressure of numerous legal cases, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1982. Six years later, the company completely ended its asbestos lines and developed a settlement trust to deal with the future health claims of former injured employees. Redevelopment of the former Johns Manville facility – including proper asbestos abatement – was a key platform of Angelo Corradino, a mayoral candidate for Manville, New Jersey, in 2011. Corradino was elected mayor of Manville in 2014.

National Gypsum Company

In 1925, the National Gypsum Company developed asbestos-containing wallboard. The company purchased an Abestone asbestos cement plant in Millington, New Jersey in 1954, where it manufactured asbestos cement that contained up to 15 percent asbestos. In 1980, the company went bankrupt dealing with the numerous lawsuits filed by former employees who developed illnesses from exposure at the site.

National Gypsum improperly delivered much of its waste to the Millington asbestos dumps on New Vernon Road and White Bridge Road, leading to site contamination that was addressed in the early 1990s. The company entered into an administrative agreement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 1985 to ensure ongoing site studies and cleanup processes.

New Jersey Processing Facilities for W.R. Grace Vermiculite

The W.R. Grace vermiculite mine in Libby, Montana, was the world’s leading producer of vermiculite, exporting hundreds of thousands of tons of asbestos-contaminated product to refineries across the nation. Seven refineries in New Jersey received vermiculite from the Libby mine, exposing workers to the fibers as they “puffed” the mineral into its usable form.

W.R. Grace’s Zonolite facility at 15 Industrial Drive in Hamilton Township began processing Libby’s vermiculite in 1948. Approximately 100,000 tons of asbestos-laden vermiculite was refined at the facility, which possessed the state’s only heat expansion equipment. The process of “exfoliating” vermiculite through heat exposure was one of the most dangerous steps of refining, releasing high amounts of asbestos into the air as the vermiculite was “popped.” This facility was named a Superfund site by the EPA and cleanup efforts were launched in 2006.

These seven facilities processed over 2,500 shipments from Libby, totaling more than 338,000 tons of vermiculite.

New Jersey Renovation Projects Requiring Substantial Asbestos Removal

Many buildings in New Jersey still contain asbestos. Renovating these structures could cause construction workers and area residents to inhale asbestos.

Some of these buildings are abandoned, such as a former psychiatric facility, and anyone who explores the empty buildings is at risk of asbestos exposure.

A.O. Polymer

A.O. Polymer produced compounds such as plastics, resins and special polymers between the 1960s and 1993. In the 1970s, the facility was cited for numerous health violations, including improper disposal of wastewater, contamination of local drinking water and 13 air quality violations. During the 1981 cleanup efforts, 61 cubic yards of asbestos material was removed from the four-acre site.

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