Camden receives $1 million for pollution clean-up

One million dollars are coming to Camden from the Environmental Protection Agency to clean up toxic sites in one of the nation’s most polluted cities.

One million dollars are coming to Camden from the Environmental Protection Agency to clean up toxic sites in one of the nation’s most polluted cities.

Congressman Rob Andrews (D-Camden County) helped bring the money to South Jersey. He says that, once the toxic chemicals are cleaned up from what are called “brownfield” sites, the ground can be put back to use.

“Some of them are in the area near the baseball stadium and in the area of the Cooper Grant neighborhood,” says Andrews. “Others of them are just off of Federal Street by the Admiral Wilson Boulevard. They take old polluted sites and clean them up so there can be residential and commercial development. Now, this creates work in the cleanup process. More importantly, it creates work in the long run in the construction of housing and commercial sites.”

Andrews says that, when toxic sites are cleared, they provide an incentive for other developers to come in and clear nearby sites and build. Camden has dozens of brownfields sites that need to be cleaned up.