I attended a presentation a few months ago put on by the Lower Passaic Cooperating Parties Group which is basically a planning group that was assembled by all the industries that the EPA is pointing their finger at to remediate the contamination of the 17 mile stretch from Dundee to Newark Bay. These guys did the whole cost/benefit talk and the plan they are shooting for is to attempt a shallow dredge and cap as compared to a total dredge and removal. Their angle was by proposing a dredge and cap, they would initially remove a substantial amount of hot materiel along the top layers of the bed, cap it with clean material and let then let the river deal with the deep/capped contaminates through "Natural Recovery" which they claim would reach the acceptable levels mandated by the EPA in about 50 years. They said that a total dredge would achieve the same level in 50 years and at a much, MUCH, higher cost. I have their power point presentation, I'll post it if i can figure out a way to scan it and get it on here.
Here's a list of parties involved with the LPCPG
http://lowerpr.com/parties.htm
