http://www.telegram.com/…

Victor Deeb, the retired chemist who stored hundreds of chemicals in his house, was allowed to return home yesterday after authorities spent three days dismantling his basement laboratory.

None of the materials found at 81 Fremont St. posed a radiological or biological risk, according to the state Department of Environmental Protection. No mercury or poison was found. Some of the compounds are potentially explosive, but no more dangerous than typical household cleaning products.

All potentially hazardous materials were removed from the house, which the Deebs have owned since 1988. A cleanup company, contracted by DEP, is continuing to test the chemicals in a lab.

“Ultimately, they will be disposed of,” said DEP spokesman Joseph M. Ferson, who said the city’s Department of Public Works is making sure nothing seeped into the sewer lines.

Mr. Deeb declined to comment yesterday. Authorities say he has patents pending and had been using his basement as a science lab to conduct experiments, possibly for many years.

Firefighters found more than 1,500 vials, jars, cans, bottles and boxes in the basement Tuesday afternoon, after they responded to an unrelated fire in an air conditioner on the second floor of the home.

Vessels of chemicals were all over the furniture and the floor, authorities said. The ensuing investigation involved a state hazardous materials team, fire and police officials, health officials, environmental officials and code enforcement officials. The Deebs were told to stay in a hotel while the slew of officials investigated and emptied the basement.

Pamela A. Wilderman, Marlboro’s code enforcement officer, said Mr. Deeb was doing scientific research and development in a residential area, which is a violation of zoning laws.

“It is a residential home in a residential neighborhood,” she said. “This is Mr. Deeb’s hobby. He’s still got bunches of ideas. I think Mr. Deeb has crossed a line somewhere. This is not what we would consider to be a customary home occupation. … There are regulations about how much you’re supposed to have, how it’s detained, how it’s disposed of.”

Mr. Deeb’s home lab likely violated the regulations of many state and local departments, although officials have not yet announced any penalties.

“He’s been very cooperative,” Ms. Wilderman said. “I won’t be citing him for anything right at this moment.”

I like the frankness of Robert Bruce Thompson over at MAKE blog on this: “Allow me to translate Ms. Wilderman’s words into plain English: ‘Mr. Deeb hasn’t actually violated any law or regulation that I can find, but I don’t like what he’s doing because I’m ignorant and irrationally afraid of chemicals, so I’ll abuse my power to steal his property and shut him down.’” and “There’s a word for what just happened in Massachusetts. Tyranny. And it’s something none of us should tolerate.”

Hear, hear.

http://www.trentonian.com/…

A New York sect of Amitabha Buddhists bought hundreds of eels, frogs and turtles in Chinatown to set them free in the Passaic River, hoping they would not only survive but also realize their karmic potential.

Saving the animals, though, did not do anything for the karma of the state Department of Environmental Protection. DEP pfficials say the Buddhists did not have a permit and may be subject to fines up to $1,000.

Releasing critters into the wild takes a permit - and because of fears of harm being done by nonnative species, New Jersey is reluctant to issue them out for anything beyond stocking fish ponds.

“We’re dead-set against it,” DEP biologist Mark Boriek told the Herald News of West Paterson for Tuesday’s newspapers. “It’s even illegal to stock any kind of carp or goldfish in New Jersey in a place with an inlet or outlet.”

I don’t agree with the DEP… or care about nonnative species… but releasing them into the Passaic? I used to live 2 blocks from the Passaic River in North Arlington and it is still far from being an OK living environment for bacteria let alone eels, frogs and turtles. The joke used to be you could walk across it because it was so full of trash, bodies and drugs. The ‘water’ was black. These Buddhists could have spent the extra gas money and brought them to PA, South Jersey or Northern New York.