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Ringwood, NJ --- U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), a senior member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, today visited the former Ringwood Mines/Landfill Superfund site in Ringwood Township to demand the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Ford Motor Company finish cleanup at the site and address health concerns among area residents.
Pallone released a letter he sent today to EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson requesting that EPA's Office of Environmental Justice investigate whether the Ramapough Mountain Indians, a state-recognized Native American tribe, have been improperly impacted by the slow and incomplete cleanup efforts at the site. He also asked Administrator Johnson to personally visit the site to "view the continued contamination and look into the continued slow pace of the cleanup efforts." (A COPY OF THE LETTER FOLLOWS)
"Here we have members of the Ramapough Mountain Indian Tribe experiencing serious health problems as a result of contamination that, for some, still remains right in their front yards," Pallone said. "I'd like EPA's Office of Environmental Justice to investigate whether the fact a small minority community was impacted by this contamination played any role in the agency's slow cleanup response."
The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has already declared Ringwood an Environmental Justice Community in response to a petition by the Ringwood Neighborhood Action Association.
The New Jersey congressman was joined at a news conference at the former Superfund site by Edison Wetlands Association Executive Director Robert Spiegel, DEP Environmental Justice Coordinator Maria Franco-Spera, and members of the Ringwood Neighborhood Action Association.
During the 1960s and 1970s, a subsidiary of the Ford Motor Company dumped hazardous wastes throughout the Ringwood area. EPA added the site to its Superfund list in 1983, and then declared Ringwood cleaned up in 1994 after Ford removed tons of toxic sludge from the site. However, four subsequent cleanups have been needed over the last decade.
Last year, an analysis conducted of Ringwood State Park by the environmental consulting firm Chapin Engineering still found lead contamination 400 times higher than allowed under DEP's human health criteria. The analysis also showed evidence of lead in surface water, as well as arsenic and other volatile organic compounds in both sludge and soil.
On Friday, the Ford Motor Company told the EPA that it would reimburse the agency $226,000 already spent to remove some sludge at Ringwood State Park, as well as provide the necessary funds to investigate whether additional sludge remains buried below 48 residential lots. The EPA is expected to make a formal announcement of this agreement at a press conference this afternoon.
"How is it that over the course of 23 years the cleanup here at Ringwood is still far from complete? Since Ford is footing the bill, it's inconceivable to me why EPA does not expedite the cleanup," Pallone continued. "It's time to have the cleanup finished once and for all, and for EPA to do what is right for the Ramapough Mountain Indians and everyone else who lives in the area."
Earlier this year, Pallone and U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr. (D-NJ) asked EPA not only to resume cleanup efforts at the site, but also to place the site back on the national Superfund priority list. EPA denied the request, even though cleanup activities continue. |
