BY JEFF PILLETS
TRENTON BUREAU
THE RECORD

Nearly four years ago, Clifton voters approved an $11 million plan to convert an old industrial building into classrooms for 500 high school students.

They hadn't been told that groundwater on the 3-acre site had excessive levels of pesticides, nor that arsenic and other poisons were present at elevated levels and that other dangerous organic compounds had seeped into the ground just outside the building's rear entrance.

A review of the controversial project by The Record reveals that Clifton school officials recommended the property to voters without doing a single environmental test or obtaining a sign-off from state environmental regulators.

In interviews last week, state officials acknowledged that there are essentially no regulations stipulating that school districts test potential school sites before seeking voter approval.

READ MORE: http://www.northjersey.com/news/aroundnj/Clifton_school_site_lacks_test_for_pesticides.html

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