Friday, March 14, 2008
Lawrence Aaron
Environmental crusader Robert F. Kennedy Jr. visited the Upper Ringwood mines area this week.
LIFE IN THE HILLS of Upper Ringwood is full of striking contrasts. On the one hand, you have sweeping vistas with nothing to block the view of the New Jersey Highlands for miles. You imagine breathing clean mountain air. But, in reality, you're standing on enough contaminated industrial waste to destroy plants, game, humans and the water supply.
And the same air that seems clean has, in reality, over time been blamed for the respiratory ailments many of the residents complain about.
Environmental crusader Robert F. Kennedy Jr. visited the Upper Ringwood mines area this week after years of seeing only maps and data his law firm is compiling on behalf of the residents.
Under other circumstances, Upper Ringwood is a lovely place to live. Kennedy used the word "paradise" to describe it. But what feels like a park is in actuality a Superfund site. Why didn't Ford Motor Co. pick some place to dump massive amounts of toxic industrial waste other than in the midst of an established community of Ramapough Mountain Indians?
"These people in many ways are not wealthy people. But they were living in a paradise and the [Ford] company was like a snake coming into paradise, taking their streams and turning them into poison," Kennedy said.
Environmental legacy
A professor of environmental law at Pace University and a lawyer with the Natural Resources Defense Council, Kennedy is attached to the successful turnaround of the Hudson River, which established a model for other river-cleaning projects.
Kennedy waited three years to pay a site visit to his clients who live in the middle of the only place so contaminated that it had to be put back on the National Priorities List as a Superfund site. But in all fairness, his law firm is represented at enough meetings with the Environmental Protection Agency to make up for both it.
The Kennedy firm took over the case in 2005 after the residents of Upper Ringwood felt they were being pressured by their previous counsel to settle with Ford. Kennedy's firm has gone much deeper into the case, and is working with several other law firms, including the Cochran Firm, to prepare for trial. The case won't go to trial for at least another year.
After living for many generations in relative isolation, the Upper Ringwood residents have seen a stream of celebrities, dignitaries and government officials coming through in the past three years. The governor has visited, along with Department of Environmental Protection commissioners, state health officials, EPA representatives and many others promising to assist with problems related to the cleanup.
Touring with Kennedy Monday were Rep. Frank Pallone Jr., D-Long Branch, and Sen. Frank Lautenberg. They pushed until the EPA finally agreed to restore the Ringwood site to Superfund status.
Fifth cleanup effort
Ford is attempting its fifth cleanup at the site that the EPA had prematurely declared clean. Paint sludge and contaminated earth are abundant.
"That's Ford Fairlane blue.... It's all over the place," said Richard Chapin, whose environmental engineering firm gives technical assistance to the Ramapough community. As he held up a small jar full of debris, the chunks of dirt were mixed with brightly colored flecks of metal, advertising the EPA's failure to fulfill its mission. EPA officials looked the other way while toxic waste poisoned the land and water around Ringwood.
"This agency has been captured by the polluters," Kennedy said. "It's called 'captive agency phenomenon.' It happens all the time when the regulating agency becomes essentially the mouthpiece of the industry it's supposed to be regulating. This is a poster child for that."
Since the Ford cleanup resumed in 2004, an estimated 29,000 tons of contaminated debris has been removed by the truckload. Huge areas are newly gouged out around the old Peters Mine and Canon Mine sites where Ford dumped hazardous wastes. Residents say they've seen dozens of mystery drums that were never removed under EPA oversight.
Every first-time visitor to the Upper Ringwood Superfund site has the same reaction at some point. How could they have missed all this?
Lawrence Aaron is a Record columnist. Contact him at aaron@northjersey.com
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