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Washington, D.C. -- In a letter to the Chairman and CEO of Ford Motor Company, William Clay Ford, Jr., U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ) today called on the company to admit how they disposed of contaminated material during cleanup of their former assembly plant in Edison and to do everything possible in the future to properly clean up that site as well as the Superfund site they created in Ringwood, New Jersey.
Pallone told Ford that the company's actions in New Jersey are out of line with their stated corporate principles regarding protection of public health and the environment. The New Jersey congressman points to the company's own website, where it promises "strong environmental and public health protection is one of Ford Motor Company's public policy priorities."
"Clearly, this is another failure of your company to live up to its promises when it comes to public health and the environment," Pallone wrote in his letter to Ford. "I therefore urge you to order your employees to do everything in their power to comply with these investigations, fully disclose Ford's actions with regard to the cleanup, and take the utmost care in protecting public health when you proceed with any further care."
During Ford's demolition of their Edison assembly plant, the company processed and separated hundreds of thousands of tons of rubble, including concrete contaminated with poly-chlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), a probable carcinogen according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Without telling state or local officials or even the contractors who removed the concrete, Ford allowed thousands of tons of the contaminated concrete to be distributed to various sites throughout New Jersey, posing a serious threat to residents.
As a result of their actions, Ford Motor Company is now under investigation by a number of county, state, and federal agencies. Pallone sent a separate letter to EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson asking the agency to "use its enforcement powers, including criminal actions, to punish Ford and require them to cleanup sites properly in the future."
In both letters, Pallone pointed out Ford's blatant disregard for public health and the environment in New Jersey, evident not only in Edison but also at a Superfund site the company created in Ringwood, NJ. During the 1960s and 1970s, Ford and its contractors dumped large quantities of toxic paint sludge, as well as automotive parts and other trash, in the Ringwood Mines and throughout the area inhabited by the Upper Ringwood community.
Ford provided little information about the extent of the contamination, which resulted in four additional cleanup attempts since the site was removed from the Superfund list in 1994. The clean up was handled so poorly that it is expected to soon become the first site in America to be added to the Superfund National Priorities List a second time.
"Responsible corporate behavior does not simply mean sponsoring charity events and putting up nice rhetoric on a website--it means treating communities where your company operates with respect. After being a bad actor when it comes to New Jersey's environment for so long, now would be the right time for Ford to show that it can live up to its principles. Please do the right thing at Ringwood and Edison," Pallone concluded in his letter to Ford.
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