The Raritan Bay Slag Site is located in the Laurence Harbor Section of Old Bridge and Sayreville in Middlesex County, New Jersey. In 2009, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency added the site to the Superfund Program's National Priorities List (NPL) due to elevated concentrations of antimony, arsenic, copper, and lead along the Laurence Harbor seawall adjacent to Old Bridge Waterfront Park. It was determined that slag from a lead smelter had been used to enhance the Western Jetty of the Cheesequake Creek Inlet and to construct the seawall along the shoreline. Additionally, buried waste materials such as shredded battery casings contributed to these elevated concentrations of contaminants at the site. The impacted area extends approximately 1.5 miles along the waterfront from the just beyond the Western Jetty southeast to Margaret’s Creek. A 2,500-foot section of beach along the waterfront has been fenced off to restrict public access. The remediation is ongoing. The natural resource Trustees for the Site, the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) acting through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) initiated a natural resource damage assessment and restoration (NRDAR) under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) in 2015. The Trustees identified surface water, sediment, benthic macroinvertebrates, fish, migratory birds and habitats supporting these natural resources as potentially having been injured by exposure to the hazardous substances, particularly lead, at the Site. As a result of the closure of the 2,500-foot section of beach along the waterfront, there was also a loss of recreation. In 2025, a settlement was finalized for both response and natural resource damages under CERCLA. Under the terms of the settlement, the Trustees jointly recovered approximately $18.8 million for restoration of injured resources and lost recreational services. Pursuant to CERCLA Section 111(i), the Trustees are now initiating the restoration planning process including identification and evaluation of potential restoration opportunities to compensate the public for these losses. A draft restoration plan and any necessary environmental compliance analyses will be made available for public comment, pursuant to CERCLA and its implementing NRDAR regulations, 43 CFR § 11.93, in the future. The Trustees will continue to coordinate with EPA on response actions during the Restoration Planning phase. Please check back here for more updates in the future!