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PATERSON — From an aerial platform extended almost 120 feet into the air, a worker using a hammer and chisel began pulling off bricks — one by one — from the top of an old factory smokestack near the Great Falls on June 17.
The brick removal marked the start of a $4 million environmental cleanup of asbestos and lead from industrial ruins, contamination that has stalled the opening of a $7.9 million national park expansion that was completed nine months ago.
The United States Environmental Protection Agency estimates that the removal of the top half of the 118-foot smokestack will take four to six weeks. After the dangers of the unstable chimney are resolved, officials said, the removal of the ground-level pollution can move forward.
Smokestack is unstable, officials say
The first day of work illustrated why officials think the smokestack deconstruction will not be a quick job. After a handful of bricks were taken down, the aerial work platform’s safety sensors began going off because of its proximity to the crumbling factory structure, officials said.
The contractor lowered the platform to devise a different approach for getting workers close to the smokestack. Officials said the revision reflected the trial-and-error nature of such a unique demolition.
Officials said the chimney can’t be knocked down with an excavator because of the risk of asbestos fibers becoming airborne and floating toward nearby homes. But the smokestack can’t stay in place during the cleanup because it might come crashing down on workers below.
What did officials say?
Mayor Andre Sayegh visited with EPA officials as the work began on Tuesday.
“Are we about to witness history being made here?” Sayegh said, sounding like a sports announcer as the aerial platform climbed towards the smokestack.
The cleanup project has been a cause of frustration for the mayor, who has expressed disappointment that the expanded section of the national park has remained shut.
“We want to open the rest of the park as soon as possible, but we want to do it safely,” Sayegh said.
Colleen Grell, the EPA’s on-site coordinator, said the bricks and mortar being removed from the chimney will be tested to determine whether they are contaminated with the asbestos and lead that have been found on the ground amid the ruins. If the bricks are tainted, Grell said, the whole smokestack will be taken down.
The project has raised some concerns among people who live and work near the ruins, which sit along the Passaic River. Residents have asked about the perils of contaminants becoming airborne during the deconstruction.
Grell and EPA spokesman Stephen McBay noted that work crews have installed four air monitoring devices around the perimeter of the ruins. A technician is at the site checking real-time results from the air tests, they said.
McBay said the testing will identify any contaminants in the air near the smokestack before its begins to spread into the surrounding area.