New Jersey to Push for Ford Dump Site Cleanup.

Byline: Jan Barry

Apr. 21--The state's top environmental official says Ringwood residents living near Ford's former waste dump face health risks, and that New Jersey will press for a total cleanup of paint sludge and other toxic substances still there.

Environmental Commissioner Bradley Campbell said he is directing his agency to "double-team" with the federal Environmental Protection Agency to make sure that waste left behind despite a federally supervised cleanup a decade ago is finally removed.

Campbell is a former EPA regional administrator with experience in federally supervised cleanups. He said he is taking the unusual step of having his state Department of Environmental Protection intervene in an officially closed federal Superfund case.

He based his action on reports after a recent official inspection of the rural neighborhood, which sits high in the mountains next to Ringwood State Park and above the Wanaque Reservoir system serving millions of state residents.

Ford used the 500-acre area to dump paint, solvents and car parts from 1967 to 1974. The site was added to the federal Superfund toxic waste list in 1983. Ford undertook an EPA-monitored cleanup of tons of paint sludge and barrels of solvents. Federal officials declared the land safe in 1994.

However, the EPA has confirmed that not all original dumping areas were mapped, and Ford has had to return several times as residents found new sites. Last week, residents and lawyers representing the neighborhood association showed inspectors from federal, state, county, and municipal agencies clumps of paint sludge littering the area.