An order from the State of New York is sowing discord in Ringwood, New Jersey. New York State has ordered Ford Motor Company, responsible for a contamination of toxic paint sludge from a former facility in Mawah, New Jersey, to remove nearly all of the contaminant from a dump site in Rockland County. In the meantime, federal officials have made a proposal to clean up a site in Upper Ringwood, New Jersey that was contaminated by the same plant; however, the New Jersey proposal leaves a majority of contaminant at the New Jersey location.
It is important to bear in mind that the two sites, while linked to the same contamination from the Ford plant, are quite different from each other. Ringwood has considerably more contaminants, in deeper pits, than the Ramapo site, making a comprehensive cleanup more difficult and expensive to remediate. Additionally, the Borough of Ringwood is responsible for the costs of the cleanup, since the Borough initially allowed Ford to dump the contaminant waste at its site.
Testing of the Ringwood site, which contains about 50 residences, has found lead in plants and small animals on the mountain of Ringwood, indicating that the contamination has entered the areas food supply. 19 of the residences in the site have also tested positive for contamination and require cleanup of their own.