Tag: Pleasant Brook

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Once Upon a Time a Pristinely Clean Pleasant Brook Meandered through the Community of Saddle and Upper Saddle River

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Derek Michalski
Upper Saddle River NJ, Once upon a time in a bucolic community called Upper and Saddle River there was pristinely clean Pleasant Brook meandering among high end properties of circa 200 families that found recluse from the city and noisy suburb. Pleasant Brook is not any just any brook. This historic brook is also a tertiary water tributary that feeds the waters to Saddle River. The community called Saddle River organized under joint 07458 zip code was one of the most affluent communities in the union. It all started to go down the hill in 2017……(tbc.)

Continue reading Once Upon a Time a Pristinely Clean Pleasant Brook Meandered through the Community of Saddle and Upper Saddle River

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Attorney General and NJDEP Charging Wind Mills but Fail to Lift Finger to Protect Bergen County

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the staff of the Ridgewood blog

TRENTON NJ, More virtue signaling from the Murphy Administration , Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal and Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Commissioner Catherine R. McCabe announced today that the State has joined a motion in federal court seeking to block drilling-related seismic testing activity and fight to prevent offshore drilling in New Jersey .

Where exactly was the NJDEP during the 14 months that the Toll Brothers owned Apple Ridge site leached arsenic into Pleasant Brook and Saddle River  ?  We failed to notice one press release from the NJ Attorney General and the NJDEP only responded after the run off from the site was featured on CBS News and NorthJersey.com .

Next time someone want to raise your tax to save the environment remind them of Apple Ridge and the destruction of Bergen County water ways. 

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BREAKING : Toll Brothers Has Stopped ALL Pumping Activities into Pleasant Brook in Upper Saddle River

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photo by Derek Michalski

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Upper Saddle River NJ, after 10 months of questionable practice of pumping mud into Pleasant Brook Toll Brothers stopped ALL pumping activities into the brook over the weekend. Houses, pumps and generators used to power these pumps were also removed from 19 Meadowbrook Rd. construction site In Upper Saddle River.

Continue reading BREAKING : Toll Brothers Has Stopped ALL Pumping Activities into Pleasant Brook in Upper Saddle River

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Major Breakthrough in a 10-month Investigation in Toll Brothers Alleged Sludge Pumping into Local Brooks from the Apple Ridge Development in Mahwah

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photo by Derek Michalski , Pictured: Chairman of Mahwah Environmental Commission Richard Wolf documenting ongoing pollution at Toll Brothers construction site in Mahwah and Upper Saddle River.

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Upper Saddle River NJ, Major breakthrough in a 10-month community investigation started back in January 2018 by GreenUSR activist and resident of Upper Saddle River Derek Michalski.

Ramsey, Mahwah, Upper and Saddle River. Over the weekend residents from Ramsay, Mahwah and Upper Saddle River met for the second weekend in a row on the property that was featured in April 23, 2018 CBS New York Evening News coverage. We all remember Channel 2 Lisa Rozner’s report from 5 months ago about those infamous hoses pumping mud into Upper Saddle River stream directly from 100 acre site that had arsenic in the past.* Since that day very little has been done to stop the mud pumping that is occurring now 24/7 according to eyewitnesses. Last weekend the site was visited by Richard Wolf, Chairman of Mahwah Environmental Commission. This weekend Councilwoman Janet Ariemma took initiative and also met with residents and visually inspected continuous mud discharge into the Pleasant Brook.

Continue reading Major Breakthrough in a 10-month Investigation in Toll Brothers Alleged Sludge Pumping into Local Brooks from the Apple Ridge Development in Mahwah

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BREAKING NEWS: NJ DEP to Send Investigators to Toll Brothers Site in Upper Saddle River

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photo Derek Michalski of GreenUSR and CBS

May 25,2018

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Upper Saddle River NJ, On the one-month anniversary of the infamous discovery of the pumping of runoff consisting of a suspension of carcinogenic toxic soil by Toll Brothers directly into Pleasant Brook—a practice that has been apparently ongoing now for more than four consecutive months—at 6:19 PM tonight GreenUSR Attorney Gart Molander received the following text message from the NJ DEP:

“I work for the NJ DEP and have no information on what the locals did or how they have handled this issue. Today is the first time my office (Bureau of Emergency Response) was notified of this ongoing issue. As mentioned, I am sending someone from the County to investigate. They will advise me if there is any action necessary by the State. Thanks“

Apparently neither Mayor Minichetti, her Council, the Borough Administrator, nor Boswell Engineering deemed it necessary to report these ongoing erosion control problems, including the pumping of muddy runoff containing high levels of arsenic and lead directly into our precious waterways, from the biggest construction site in the history of Upper Saddle River to the NJ DEP Emergency Management Program.
We are now on the NJ DEP’s radar screen and let’s hope that finally reasonable minds will prevail to shut down this unprecedented environmental disaster.

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Unprecedented Silt Pollution Runoff Near Apple Ridge Construction Site

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(pictures were taken yesterday April 17 and today April 18, 2018)

April 19,2018

Derek Michalski

Upper Saddle River  NJ, Three days in a row muddy waters of Pleasant Brook in Upper Saddle River and Westearly Branch Of Saddle River in the town of Saddle River continued filling various ponds between Mahwah, Upper and Saddle River with heavy mud. This topic dominated also for the third day local discussions about the potential impact of this unprecedented continuous silt/dust/mud pollution by Apple Ridge massive construction site.

The presence of heavy mud floating thorough Upper and Saddle River aquatic system in opinion of many is another piece of evidence of continuous (since December 2017) mud pollution from the site that was ordered by NJDEP to undergo remediation of arsenic and lead within the top soil rata. Consequently on January 13, 2018 Stop Work Order was issued on 100 plus acres of the so called by GreenUSR members “Arsenic Field”.

In the past the public was informed that the sediment within the stream channel was tested but nobody provided any info whether the test occurred before or after the rain. In the light of over 4 month long pollution period the author of this post publicly demands to test all three ponds within 5 mile radius of the contaminated site. Logically the tests should be done two days ago but today (April 18) the waters are still full of mud and who knows if arsenic and lead that is being the subject of remediation on the site is not present in the heavy mud imported from the site to our GreenUSR aquatic ecosystem.

If Upper and Saddle River residents want to preserve the beauty of this neighborhood and to STOP continually deteriorating values of our homes this call for action shouldn’t be ignored by our local leaders. It’s too late to stop the destruction of 1000 trees, it’s too late to stop the construction site but on the Eve of 48th Earth Day Celebration it’s not to late to test the muddy waters and to dispel the fear and suspicion in our GreenUSR communities. Please show us your leadership. Happy Earth Day GreenUSR! ?

Link to stop work order:

https://www.usrtoday.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Scan0073-1.pdf