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Washington, D.C. --- U.S. Sens. Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ) and Robert Menendez (D-NJ), along with U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), today applauded the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for formally putting the Ringwood Mines/Landfill Superfund site back on the National Priorities List (NPL) but urged the EPA to do more to protect residents' health. This is the first time in the history of the Superfund program that a site has been deleted from the NPL and subsequently relisted.
The Ringwood site, filled with contaminated paint sludge dumped by Ford Motor Company during the 1960s and 1970s, was initially listed on the NPL as a Superfund site in 1983 but removed from the list in 1992 after the agency declared it clean. After the declaration, discovery of further widespread contamination caused EPA to force Ford to return to the site four times to continue cleanup activities. EPA initially denied congressional requests made in March 2005 to relist the site on the NPL but relented in April 2006.
The three New Jersey lawmakers welcomed the final listing of the site today but cautioned that while the relisting will help make Ringwood a greater priority for the EPA, there is still a great deal more work to do.
“Re-listing Ringwood is a critical step in making sure this site gets the attention and resources it deserves. The people of Ringwood for far too long have had to fight hard for every victory and just want the cleanup of the site complete so they don’t have to worry anymore about their health and their environment,” said Senator Lautenberg.
"It's good to see that the EPA finally stopped dragging their feet and recognized Ringwood for what it is -- an environmental tragedy that needs the federal government's full attention," said Rep. Pallone. "Now EPA needs to make sure that Ford cleans up the site quickly and completely because another partial cleanup is simply unacceptable."
“The people of Ringwood deserve much more than a spoiled site in their community,” said Senator Menendez. “By re-listing the site, we are one step closer to a proper clean-up – something the people of Ringwood have been denied for far too long. I am proud to have joined with my colleagues in making this call, and we will continue to fight for the people of Ringwood until their community is properly restored.”
In March, the three lawmakers also requested that the EPA Inspector General conduct an investigation into the circumstances that led to the inadequate cleanup of the Ringwood site. That investigation is currently underway. |
