State asks for ex-Jersey City dry cleaner owner to remediate site, suggests $500k fine

Photo courtesy of the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office.
[hudsoncountyview.com – 2023.09.28] The New Jersey Attorney General’s Office and the state Department of Environmental Protection has filed a brief to compel the former owner of a Jersey City dry cleaner to remediate the site, also recommending a $500,000 fine.

“Thanks to Governor Murphy, New Jersey is a national leader in the fight to secure environmental justice in communities that for far too long were ignored,” Attorney General Matt Platkin said in a statement.

“On our watch and in conjunction with the DEP, we have filed 62 enforcement actions and secured nearly $28.8 million in penalties and more than $1 million in damages for the State.”

The site of this former dry cleaner in Jersey City, formerly Sparkle Cleaners at 304 Central Ave. in the Heights, is contaminated with TCE and PCE, both of which pose a threat to human health.

The owner has disregarded a previous consent judgment and a separate, subsequent court order to clean up the site and pay liens placed on the property for violating environmental laws.

“The Shah Defendants have ignored the 2013 Consent Judgment and the 2019 Order for ten years now. The Department requests that this Court impose a civil penalty of $500,000, which represents the amount of civil penalties that the Shah Defendants would face for one day of each year they have ignored the 2013 Consent Judgment and the 2019 Order,” the brief, filed by Deputy Attorney General Paige Hensor today, says.


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