Superfund listing likely by spring
Thursday, February 16, 2006
By BARBARA WILLIAMS and JAN BARRY
STAFF WRITERS
Ford's toxic waste dump in Upper Ringwood is a national priority for cleanup and is again headed for that formal designation, perhaps as early as spring, federal environmental officials announced Wednesday.
Stephen Johnson, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, told a U.S. Senate committee hearing that the EPA is in the process of putting the 40-year-old dump back on the Superfund list -- a move that would make history, given that no other site has been re-listed.
Cleanup of Superfund sites -- which are formally listed on the National Priorities List of the nation's most contaminated sites -- is directed by the EPA and funded by polluters, when they can be identified.
After years of cleanup efforts proclaimed by Ford and the EPA, the site was delisted in 1994. Yet millions of pounds of paint sludge and other industrial waste remained there, filled with dangerous levels of lead, arsenic, benzene and other cancer-causing compounds. Area residents complain that the contamination has caused cancer and other serious illnesses and have sued Ford.
Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg, D-N.J., and other lawmakers have been pushing for a year to get the site back on the list. Lautenberg lauded Johnson's pledge to the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.
"The EPA's promise to put Ringwood back on the list for cleanup is great news for the families who live near this site," Lautenberg said.
The EPA could not provide a copy of Johnson's statement and a transcript of the hearing was not available. Agency administrators said they are working to get the site back on the list and fully cleaned up.
"We've completed all the necessary assessment work to restore the site to the list and will continue to work expeditiously to complete the process," said Alan J. Steinberg, EPA regional administrator.
"We don't have an exact date, but it should be back on the list sometime this spring," said EPA spokeswoman Kerry Humphrey.
But re-listing the site is not a done deal. The EPA action is being reviewed by the White House Office of Management and Budget, which must sign off on the proposal.
Alex Conant, an OMB spokesman, said his agency reviews all Superfund listing decisions. "We are working with the agency to fully understand the issues" in this case, Conant said.
An aide to Rep. Scott Garrett, R-Wantage, whose district includes Ringwood, said the congressman is sending a letter to the OMB "to give this their strongest consideration and try to expedite the process."
Rep. Frank Pallone, D-Long Branch, who sits on a House committee that oversees the EPA, said he was glad the EPA is acting on a request members of Congress made last year to re-list the site.
"It's certainly a positive development if it's re-listed," Pallone said. "It becomes more of a priority."
EPA Project Manager Joe Gowers said there won't be changes in the testing and cleanup process. "But this does allow the residents to apply for technical assistance grants," he said.
Jon Holt, a spokesman for Ford, said the company has already been "approaching it as a Superfund site, so the things we've been working on won't change."
The big difference comes when the site is deemed clean and is slated to come off the Superfund list. The state must sign off on it and the public has a chance to weigh in on whether it should be removed from the list.
Ford dumped lead-based paint sludge, solvents and other industrial waste from its Mahwah plant in the former iron ore mining area in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The auto giant did a cleanup under EPA oversight, which declared the site safe and delisted it in 1994. But residents found more wastes and the EPA ordered Ford to do additional cleanups over the past decade.
Last fall, The Record's Toxic Legacy series cited Ford and EPA documents showing how only a partial cleanup was conducted before the site was delisted.
Official demands for action in the past year have resulted in a renewed cleanup. Since January 2005, Ford has excavated 14,000 tons of toxic waste from state parkland and borough-owned land, while the state Department of Environmental Protection has removed paint sludge from yards and a driveway at three homes.
About 400 residents, many from the state-recognized Ramapough Mountain Indian tribe, live on the 900-acre site. No link has been made between residents' health problems and the waste, but health officials said last year that the community has some elevated cancer levels.
A health study is being prepared by state and federal agencies. That report is due in April.
The residents' suit against Ford cites personal injury and property damages from the waste, and it claims prior cleanups amounted to a pattern of deception aimed at minimizing the job.
"This is a giant step because it's the first time a site has ever been re-listed," said Matthew Plache, one of the attorneys representing the residents. "It shows the significance of the site and that something went wrong."
E-mail: barry@northjersey.com and williams@northjersey.com
Copyright © 2006 North Jersey Media Group Inc.