Industrial chemicals in soil and groundwater beneath the vacant Martin Aaron site in the city's Waterfront South pose an "imminent and substantial endangerment to the public health or welfare or the environment," according to a consent decree filed in U.S. District Court on Nov. 8.

The vacant site -- located in a mixed industrial and residential neighborhood -- is bounded by Broadway and Everett, South 6th and Jackson streets.

Originally a tannery, the site was later used to recondition and recycle drums for Exxon Mobil, BP Lubricants, Atlantic Richfield and other companies.

Those companies and 40 others have until Thursday to submit the names of contractors to handle the cleanup, which includes the excavation of 28,000 cubic yards of highly contaminated soil, capping residual tainted soil and installation of groundwater wells to extract and pretreat contaminated groundwater.

Arsenic levels in the groundwater have been detected as high as 7,130 parts per billion. The EPA groundwater standard for arsenic -- a known carcinogen -- is 10 parts per billion or less.

Soil samples contain elevated levels of arsenic, benzo(a)pyrene, a byproduct of coal combustion and diesel engines, and vinyl chloride, an aerosol propellant.

The site has been fenced off and a building on the property was razed in 1998, according to the EPA.

The cleanup is long overdue, said Rose Johnson, a longtime Waterfront South resident.

"It's about time," Johnson said. "I'm glad they're making somebody responsible."

The longer the contamination stayed on the site, Johnson said, the more she worried it could migrate closer to her home.

"We will be watching and checking to make sure they do it right," said Lulu Williams, president of South Camden Citizen Action.

Williams said she relocated to Pennsauken three months ago because of the health effects of living alongside the Camden County sewage treatment facility in Waterfront South.

Despite the move, Williams still owns a home in Waterfront South and still cares about the neighborhood.

"It's so sad," she said. "It needs to be cleaned up."

Olga Pomar, a lawyer with South Jersey Legal Services who represents area residents, said the cleanup may not be enough.

"I'm concerned that it's not a full remediation," Pomar said, alluding to the fact that some contaminated soil will stay at the site, albeit under an asphalt cover.

"It's right in the middle of the neighborhood," Pomar said, adding such sites could be contributing to elevated cancer rates in Camden and Waterfront South.

Acknowledging such concerns, EPA officials contend the cleanup will protect residents.

"The EPA believes that the selected remedy will be protective of human health and the environment," according to the remediation plan, which calls for oversight of the cleanup and five years of groundwater monitoring.

Mangaliso Davis, an activist in Camden, complained the cleanup process for the site -- which was placed on the EPA's national priorities list in 1999 -- has taken too long.

Davis noted state officials acted quickly when mercury was found last year at the Kiddie Kollege day care center in mostly-white Franklin.

A law was speedily enacted to regulate the selection of facilities for preschools after officials learned the day care center was in a former thermometer factory.

"Kiddie Kollege is a classic example of how fast legislators can respond," Davis said.

Reach Sarah Greenblatt at (856) 486-2457 or at sgreenb@courierpostonline.com

Published: December 03. 2007 3:10AM