Explosion at Morton Plant Deposits Hazardous Material

An April 8 explosion in a Paterson, NJ, chemical plant caused city authorities to post hazardous-material warnings outside the plant. The precautionary notices advised residents not to touch the yellow film that formed on surfaces exposed to the cloud resulting from the explosion. The chemicals forming the film were two colorless liquid solvents--orthochioronitrobenzene and No.2 ethylhexylamine. Either can cause skin and eye irritation and breathing difficulty.

The release to the air was the second from the Morton International plant in about 11 years and but one of many pollution incidents attributed to the company during the last two decades.

The 1987 air release--of more than 1000 pounds of an azo dye in a toxic xylene solution--went unreported by the company. The state Department of Environmental Protection fined Morton after receiving distress reports from workers at a nearby plant.

In addition, Morton has been cited by the DEP, the U.S. EPA, and the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission for violations of state and federal regulations.

Allegedly, contaminants--suspected of seeping from broken sewer lines that run through the 6.5-acre property--have migrated from the property into the Passaic River. Groundwater beneath the plant also is contaminated with volatile organic chemicals, DEP records show.

The company signed a memorandum of agreement with the DEP on May 19, 1993. In it the company offered to investigate and cleanse the site of contamination. The company so far is said to have removed storage tanks, excavated and removed contaminated soil near the river, installed monitoring wells, and built a drainage system to keep contaminated water from the river.

Other claimed Morton infractions include:

• air-permit violations during a test of its smokestack on July 30,1996;

• exceeding carbon monoxide emissions--twice in 1996 and 16 times in 1994

• emissions of xylene and hydrocarbons in excess of its air permit during a test on May 12,1993;

• failure to submit the results of a May 12,1993, test of its smokestack within 60 days; and

• release of excess amounts of toluene and benzene into the sewers in March, April, July, and September 1997. (The company is constructing a pretreatment system, which it expects to be operational by July 1, to remove organic chemicals under a consent order.)