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Ringwood, NJ --- U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) tonight informed residents of Ringwood that he called on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today to require the Ford Motor Company use an independent laboratory to verify any test results it produces at the Ringwood Mines/Landfill Superfund site.
At a meeting of the Ringwood Mines Community Advisory Group conducted by the EPA this evening, Pallone also informed residents that he requested the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) expedite a public health assessment on the residents and provide him a detailed timeline of how the agency intends to address health concerns. For many years, residents of the Ringwood community have suffered from a wide variety of debilitating conditions including bladder and lung cancer, asthma and rare diseases.
In a letter sent today to EPA Regional Administrator Alan J. Steinberg, Pallone pointed to recent tests indicating that soil found near paint sludge remnants contains high levels of arsenic. While Ford was quick to claim these levels were due to iron residue from old mining operations near the site, Pallone said this assertion conflicts with independent testing results indicating high levels of arsenic exist not only in the soil but also paint sludge left at the site by Ford.
"The use of an independent laboratory is critical to giving the public and the affected community confidence in any toxic test results," Pallone wrote in his letter to Steinberg. "For far too long, EPA and Ford have failed to complete necessary cleanup activities at the site, and the residents have suffered as a result. It should not surprise you if they have little faith in what they hear from your agency or the responsible party, and it is your responsibility to do everything possible to restore that faith and clean up their community."
The independent tests, released in January by an engineering firm under contract with Edison Wetlands Association and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), found that paint sludge at the site contained leached lead at 20 times the federal standard for hazardous waste. Recent tests also found arsenic present in soil near where the sludge was present near homes.
"Given these findings, ATSDR should ensure that it takes all necessary steps in as prompt a manner possible to find whatever links may exist between toxic contamination at the site and medical conditions that afflict area residents," Pallone wrote in a separate letter to Center for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Julie Gerberding. "I would appreciate if you could provide me with a detailed timeline of the public health assessment and any future activities related to examining public health issues at the Ringwood site."
Pallone, a senior member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, first visited the former Superfund site last September after he had written to the EPA urging the agency to relist the site on the Superfund National Priorities list. When Pallone visited the site he called for a prompt cleanup and urged ATSDR to perform health assessments on the residents to look for concrete links between contamination from the site and the serious health concerns that have plagued the Ramapough Mountain Indian Tribe for years. |
