Atop a sealed mound of industrial waste on a historically toxic swath of Gloucester County, N.J., Bill Geary sees a sunny future.
His company awaits delivery of about 6,500 solar panels for the former Rollins Environmental facility, where six people died and at least 30 were injured after a massive explosion on Dec. 8, 1977.
This notoriously wounded place looks far from hellacious; in fact, it's sort of scenic. Geary and I climb the slope of the defunct landfill that rises above the marshy grass in the heart of the site.
With maps and renderings, Geary indicates where "an array" of 6-by-3-foot solar panels will be connected "like Legos." Covering six of 90 acres of the landfill's grassy surface, it will generate 1.5 megawatts of electricity, potentially enough for 1,100 homes.
"This is our very first solar array, and we'd like to have it energized by the end of January at the latest," says Geary, an affable Bostonian who's president of Clean Harbors Environmental Services.
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