DEP: Test for More Sinkholes; Wants U.S. To Handle Resident Relocation

By JAN BARRY, STAFF WRITER

RINGWOOD Who should handle sinkholes near homes where Ford is cleaning up toxic waste?

That’s the question in a dispute between federal and state environmental officials.

State Environmental Protection Commissioner Lisa Jackson on Thursday faulted a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency decision to let Ford Motor Co. resume excavation work without more testing for hidden pits in the former iron mining area as putting "the well- being of the residents of Upper Ringwood at undue risk."

Not so fast, EPA Regional Administrator Alan Steinberg said in a quick response.

"No regional administrator has given a higher priority to the well-being of the citizens of Upper Ringwood than I," he told Jackson in a two-page response. The problem, he said, is that there is no evidence that Ford caused the approximately half-dozen sinkholes.

Steinberg offered to have EPA do underground testing, if DEP agrees to relocate any residents who might be affected if more unstable ground is found. Jackson argued that relocation of residents is an EPA responsibility.

At issue is what to do about the Cannon Mine area, where residents were evacuated from two homes last fall by Ringwood after mining consultants found nearby sinkholes ranging from gopher-hole size to a 30-foot drop into a mine tunnel.

Seismic tests by a Ford consultant showed possible voids that could cause sinkholes under the area off Van Dunk Lane, which is honeycombed by old mine pits and tunnels. Ford also ordered vibration tests that it maintains show its work didn’t cause those sinkholes or others at Sheehan Drive, where a collapsed mine pit undermined the street and the yard of a home.

Steinberg said Ford should resume excavating paint sludge because "EPA does not have the legal authority to require Ford to conduct further geophysical testing without a direct environmental link" to its dumping of industrial waste decades ago. The EPA is overseeing Ford cleanup efforts that date to the 1980s, when the 900-acre area was put on the Superfund list of the nation’s worst toxic sites.

"I worked at EPA in the Superfund program for over 10 years and temporary relocations are one of the things I did," Jackson said in an interview. "And I don’t think it’s out of the scope of the Superfund to order Ford to do a temporary relocation, if the seismic data shows that is what is needed in order to give these people comfort that they won’t come home and find their house affected."

Ford spokesman Jon Holt said the company has no comment on the dispute other than that "DEP and EPA need to resolve this issue."

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E-mail: barry@northjersey.com

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