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Legislator Presses N.Y. To Sue Ford Over Sludge

Posted on: Tuesday, 11 October 2005, 15:00 CDT

By JAN BARRY, STAFF WRITER

A New York legislator is urging his state to sue the Ford Motor Co. over paint sludge dumped decades ago along the Ramapo River.

In a letter Monday to New York's top environmental official, Assemblyman Ryan Scott Karben asked the Department of Environmental Conservation to sue Ford for environmental damages and to cover the cost of removing tons of hazardous waste from a Ramapo site in Hillburn.

"Ford's indifference to the toxic threat that it caused is reprehensible," Karben said. "After years of ignoring the people of Rockland County, it is time that Ford took responsibility for its actions and cleaned up its mess."

Karben's calls echoed those in New Jersey of acting Governor Codey, who has also announced his intent to take legal action.

Both men cited The Record's "Toxic Legacy" series, a five-day report that detailed how paint sludge from Ford's former plant in Mahwah was dumped in Ringwood and Hillburn and at more than a dozen other sites in New York and New Jersey. Much of it lies in a watershed that serves more than 2 million residents.

Codey on Friday ordered New Jersey's environmental protection agency to take over the cleanup from the federal Environmental Protection Agency if current cleanup efforts stall, and to sue Ford for environmental damage to Ringwood State Park and feeder streams to the Wanaque Reservoir. Codey also ordered the state health department to screen nearby residents for health problems.

Now, Karben is asking New York officials to hold Ford accountable for a ridge of paint sludge in Hillburn, which is adjacent to where the Ford plant once stood in Mahwah. Tons of paint sludge, tires and other castoffs were dumped there in the flood plain near a now- abandoned hamlet called the Meadows.

A spokeswoman for New York DEC Commissioner Denise Sheehan, whose office was closed for the holiday, said Karben's letter would be reviewed.

A proposed remediation plan that Ford is preparing is expected "to address on-site contamination, including the paint sludge," said Maureen Wren, the agency spokeswoman. "After we review that proposed plan and approve it, work can begin at the site."

Ford spokesman Jon Holt said the automaker aims to provide its remediation plan next month as part of a voluntary cleanup agreement it signed with New York in 2002. He noted that Ford removed tons of waste barrels and other debris from the site in 1998.

Holt said the company has "no response at the moment" to the calls in New Jersey and New York to sue.

Rockland County and local officials have asked New York for years to order Ford to remove an estimated 7,000 to 9,000 cubic yards of sludge in Hillburn.

Hillburn Mayor Brien Miele said Monday that he hopes state officials finally act on the concerns raised by Karben.

"I'm glad New Jersey is taking action," Miele said. "I would like to see New York also take action."

Geoff Welch, a Rockland County environmentalist who heads the Ramapo River Committee, said he welcomes "the call for New York State action on paint sludge," but added that the cleanup should include other areas a couple of miles north along the Ramapo River.

He and other residents have pressed for years for removal of paint sludge in a well field along the river, and also along Torne Brook, a tributary of the river.

Wren at the New York DEC said her agency is working with the county to look at other areas for "potential contamination, to further protect public health and the environment."

Holt said Ford is committed to addressing Mahwah plant wastes found in the area. "Ford is working cooperatively with DEC on the Ramapo well field and Torne Valley sites," he said.

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E-mail: barry@northjersey.com

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Source: Record, The; Bergen County, N.J.

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