TOMS RIVER, NJ (SBN) — Some 200 residents of Toms River, Ocean County, NJ, peppered state officials with questions at a town hall meeting March 13, complaining about the lack of transparency and failure to include residents in discussions regarding a proposed settlement of natural resources damages with the owner of a notorious Superfund site in the township.
State Broadcast News covered the four-and-a-half hour meeting and produced this special report featuring comments from the state Department of Environmental Protection officials who attended to gather resident input; as well as local officials, residents, and environmental advocates.
The CIBA-Geigy site has been on the Superfund list since 1983. Beginning in the early 1950s, the Swiss chemical company systematically polluted the site by dumping hazardous chemicals and toxic wastes into the ground, fouling nearby drinking well water, and allegedly causing a wide range of health problems for residents, including unusually high numbers of rare cancers.
You can get more information about the status of the site cleanup and the proposed natural resources settlement at https://dep.nj.gov/basf
You can watch our report on the meeting, hosted by SBN News Director Steve Lubetkin, in the player below.
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Steve Lubetkin is the news director for StateBroadcastNews.com. Steve’s journalism background includes print and broadcast reporting for NJ news organizations. He refocused on multimedia journalism and podcast production after a long career in corporate branded journalism and public relations.
He has won numerous awards for his audio and video news reporting from the Garden State Journalists Association, and he has also been recognized for video by the New Jersey Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. He has produced a wide range of audio and video podcasts in his other role as managing partner of State Broadcast News’s parent, The Lubetkin Media Companies.
Steve is co-author, with Toronto-based podcasting pioneer Donna Papacosta, of the book, The Business of Podcasting: How to Take Your Podcasting Passion from the Personal to the Professional.
In March 2021, he was elected to the board of directors of the New Jersey Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, and in July 2021 he was named secretary of the chapter. In August 2021, he was honored by SPJ with one of the organization’s 2021 Howard S. Dubin Outstanding Pro Member Awards, given to regular members of an SPJ chapter who go above and beyond in serving their chapter.
Steve has been the computer columnist for the Jewish Community Voice of Southern New Jersey, since 1996.
Steve also has reported on-camera and produces virtual conferences for NJSpotlightNews.org, a public policy news coverage website focused on New Jersey government and industry; and for clients of StateBroadcastNews.com, a division of The Lubetkin Media Companies LLC.
From May-November 2019, he produced and reported a weekly podcast, The CRE News Hour, a news and features program focusing on the commercial real estate industry.
From 2014 to 2019 he was New Jersey and Philadelphia editor for GlobeSt.com and filled in covering Chicago/Midwest and Atlanta.
Steve has also served (from August 2017 to March 2018) as national broadcast news correspondent for CEOReport.com, a news website focused on practical advice for senior executives in small- and medium-sized companies.
Earlier in his career, Steve reported on rock music at the Jersey Shore for the Asbury Park Press, and was a broadcast news anchor and production engineer for WJLK-AM & FM, then owned by the Press. He also worked as a general assignment reporter for the Red Bank Register, Shrewsbury, NJ.
You can email Steve at steve@statebroadcastnews.com.
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