Automaker Ford Motor Co. (F) and the Borough of Ringwood, New Jersey have agreed to a consent decree with the United States under the Superfund Law, the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Public Affairs announced.
As per the agreement, Ford and Ringwood would perform the final phase of cleanup, known as Operable Unit 3, targeting groundwater at the Ringwood Mines/Landfill Superfund Site located in Ringwood, New Jersey.
The consent decree has been reached under the federal Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act or CERCLA, also known as the Superfund law.
In the agreement, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and the Administrator of the New Jersey Spill Compensation Fund are also parties as co-plaintiffs with the U.S.
The around 500-acre Ringwood Mines/Landfill Superfund Site includes forested land, abandoned mine pits and shafts, a closed municipal landfill, and other such areas. In the past, Ford had used portions of the site to dispose paint sludge and other industrial waste generated at its automobile assembly plant in Mahwah, New Jersey.
Investigations found that some of these materials contributed to contamination in soil, groundwater, surface water, and mine shafts.
At present, the use of the contaminated groundwater would pose health risk to nearby communities, and with the cleanup, this groundwater may be used as a drinking water source for them in the future.
The cleanup is expected to cost $3.4 million, and it addresses benzene, 1,4-dioxane, and lead contamination in groundwater and mine water associated with the historic disposal of paint sludge and other industrial waste at the Site.
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