"EPA Finalizes $45 Million Paint Sludge Cleanup Plan"

"RINGWOOD, N.J. — The Environmental Protection Agency has finalized a $44.8 million cleanup plan for three heavily contaminated sites once used by the Ford Motor Co. to dump hazardous waste that have been at the center of a long-running and controversial environmental fight in New Jersey and New York.

According to the EPA, during the late 1960s and early 1970s, Ford dumped millions of gallons of toxic paint sludge containing lead, arsenic, chromium and benzene in abandoned iron mines, landfills and forests surrounding its Mahwah assembly plant in the New Jersey borough of Ringwood, near the border with New York.

Under the final EPA plan, 22,000 tons of contaminated material will be removed from the mouth of Peter’s Mine Pit, and the Cannon and Peter’s Mine Pits will be capped. That means the hazardous material will not be completely excavated from the mine pits, which are several hundred feet deep and contain as much as 250,000 cubic yards of contamination, according to EPA Superfund director Walter Mugdan."

Kaelyn Forde reports for Aljazeera America July 15, 2014.

SEE ALSO:

"Environmental Groups, Community Leaders Pan Ringwood Superfund Plan" (Newark Star-Ledger)