Some demolition continues ahead of a planned meeting with the state over contaminated soil.
The developer of a major Phillipsburg-area industrial project has said they will stop work over a dirt dispute with the state.
But demolition of portions of the former Ingersoll Rand site continued this week.
Trucks and large movers crawled over some areas Tuesday, handling debris from previous work.
"What you saw on the site was just the continuation of demolition activities that were already underway and paid for," Opus Investments principal Erin Murphy told lehighvalleylive.com.
Whether or not the work truly comes to a stop depends on a pending meeting with the state Department of Environmental Protection.
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Opus, based in Medford, N.J., has proposed building an eight-warehouse complex totaling 4 million square feet at Commerce Park in Phillipsburg and Lopatcong Township. The project is projected to bring about 3,000 jobs, and produce $3.7 billion within Warren County over the next 10 years. Construction was planned to begin this year and finish in 2021.
The efforts recently hit a snag over Opus' proposal to truck in 600,000 cubic yards of soil from New York to raise an area of the property 30 to 35 feet. The DEP says the fill is too contaminated; Opus says the state previously indicated it would be OK and to change it will be costly.
A meeting among involved parties is scheduled Aug. 11.
"I know that everyone is talking," Murphy said, "but I don't even want to speculate until after we have that meeting."
Steve Novak may be reached at snovak@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @type2supernovak and Facebook. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.