October 06, 2026
Tony Giberson/USA Today Network via Reuters Connect
Federal and state environmental authorities have been working to clean up the Gibbstown Superfund Site, one of four former Hercules, Inc. properties cited in a lawsuit over alleged contamination, since 1983.
A former chemical company will pay New Jersey more than $4.5 million to settle pollution claims at four vacated sites in the state.
Hercules, Inc. agreed to the sum to resolve a 2007 lawsuit concerning alleged contamination at its former plants in Middlesex, Morris and Gloucester counties. The manufacturer, which was acquired by Ashland, Inc. in 2008, also will pay $50,000 to support watershed and habitat conservation at select areas on these properties, including 110 acres on the Gibbstown Superfund Site near the Delaware River.
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According to the Environmental Protection Agency, Hercules dumped byproducts in a four-acre "solid waste disposal area" on the land, also used by the property's previous owner DuPont, for several decades. This waste leeched volatile organic compounds and heavy metals into the soil and groundwater. Hercules' factory manufactured phenol, acetone and compounds used in their production from 1953 until 2010, when the plant was decommissioned.
The U.S. Geological Survey first detected benzene, a known carcinogen, in a production well on the site in 1981, leading to additional groundwater testing. Two years later, the Gibbstown property was placed on the Superfund program's National Priorities List. Remedial actions, long-term monitoring and inspections have been ongoing for the past four decades.
The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection sued in 2007 to recoup "costs they have incurred, and will incur" to clean up the Gibbstown site and additional Hercules properties, citing multiple state laws. The settlement resolves its claims, but does not exempt Hercules from past or future remediation costs. State prosecutors also reserved the right to file claims regarding natural resource damages to the Delaware River.
Though the settlement was reached in August, it was only finalized recently following a public comment period.
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