Who is responsible?
So my brother and I are talking over dinner one night and he brings up the topic.
" So have you figured out what made you sick yet? "
We go over my conclusions, and then I bring it up. I bring up the fact that the
old Bendix plant was torn down years ago, and I am curious as to why no one's
built something on it. I moved from the area years ago, and unless someone tells
me, basically I don't pay attention to what goes on up there any longer.
The following night, he is at his home office computer, and I'm at the laptop,
in my living room, and the emails begin to fly.
I will add at this point that
email is my basic method of communication, since the disease took my voice.
Then the facts come alive.
The reason why no one has been building on the Bendix
site is because the soil is contaminated, and it is a toxic waste site.
View the NJ CONTAMINATED SUPERFUND LIST...
Turns out the Bendix site, in Eatontown was so badly contaminated that it at one time
appeared on the EPA's National Priority List, joining company with some of the most
dangerious sites in the country. Upon further investigation, I found there are many old
Bendix sites, and most are now toxic waste sites, that are highly contaminated.
Bendix seems to have done this everywhere they have done business, but then again,
there were Bendix plants everywhere. Maybe this explains why Honeywell never returned
my emails regarding my pension from the plant. They had to wonder why a 41 year old
former employee was inquring about his pension benefits. This was looking like a
cover up from the start.
How bad is the contamination?
I can only speak about the behavior I saw while I worked at the plant, and on the
research I have conducted in the last few weeks since I found out about the toxic
waste site. You have to consider that I was employed in the contaminated area on the
date that Bendix actually reported the incident or spill to the EPA on 12/23/83.
Now wheither Bendix reported the problem immediately or not I don't know.
I do know that Bendix had a shortage of actual physical space to store the
chemicals needed to supply the demand of the booming business we were doing,
and contamination of the soil went on, on a daily basis, without regard for the
envoirment. Accidental spills, and intentional dumping were not part of standard
operating procedure, but were part of normal daily operation by it's employees.
At the time of the reported toxic contamination, the plant operated 3 full time
shifts, almost everyday of the year. It's employee's in critical areas such as
mine, were harassed into working overtime, just to keep up with the demand.
I am here to suggest the contamination at the plant went on for years, before
anyone ever considered what they were doing was a problem.
What I do know is I was working in the contaminated area the day it was reported,
and no one from Bendix, or the Boro of Eatontown, ever advised me or anyone else
for the that matter, that the problem was in fact reported to the EPA.
How do you stand there and not inform your employees as to the health risks
associated with the EPA report? Where was the union when all the this was going on?
Fact of the matter was, we were never told there was a report filed with EPA and
we were, no way shape or form told there was a problem that required calling the EPA.
The plant wasn't shut down, nor the area roped off, that day at Bendix, it was
business as usual.
Was it this event that was reported on 12/23/83 that lead to Bendix to start complying
with " right to know reports " and hazardous material meetings? Realistically, I probably
worked with and around those chemicals, before there was a right to know meeting.
Another thing to consider is that the Bendix plant was in operation, to the best
of my knowledge, since the 1930's. First Bendix manufacturered vacuum tubes at this
location, then later becomming a leader as a defense contractor after retooling the plant.
If I witnessed contamination in the 80's, what happened the 40 years before I
was employed there, and what happened after I left?
The contamination is explained with a photo on the next page.
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