Major Milestone in Grassroots Campaign to Clean Up Ringwood State Park
Last week, activists working on the campaign to permanently clean up New Jersey's Ringwood State Park got major news. At a packed community hearing, state officials backed away from plans to transfer the ownership of contaminated areas of the park back to Ford Motor Company, responding to the campaign on Change.org to keep the park in public hands.
Ford's efforts to gain control of areas where the car company dumped toxic waste are now indefinitely off the table—making room for the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to issue a legally binding plan for contamination in the park.
This is a major shift in the local effort to clean up the contamination of Ringwood State Park, a campaign that has received national attention in recent weeks and was the subject of an HBO documentary that aired this summer. More than five decades ago, Ford Motor Company dumped tens of thousands of tons of toxic cancer-causing paint sludge on the Ramapough Mountain Indian Tribe’s land in Upper Ringwood, New Jersey. Community members have been campaigning to clean up the park for years. Support the continuing campaign by signing the new petition for a full clean up.
Last Tuesday, more than 200 people packed the Ringwood Library for the EPA hearing on the Ringwood site clean-up. During the meeting, members of the Ramapough tribe, a community severely affected by Ford’s toxic dumping in the 60s and 70s, delivered nearly 70,000 petition signatures to both EPA and Ford representatives.
Edison Wetlands Association, the New Jersey group leading the campaign to strengthen the clean-up effort, launched the petition on Change.org after rumors circulated that Ford was attempting to gain control over Peter’s Mine, one of the most contaminated areas of Ringwood State Park. Residents feared clean up efforts would stall, or—even worse—Ford would resume using Ringwood State Park to store toxic waste if the company legally gained control of the site.
"The decision by the State of New Jersey to postpone indefinitely any transfer of land in Ringwood State Park to Ford Motor Company is testament to the 70,000 Americans who took a stand through Change.org on behalf of the long-suffering Native Americans in Upper Ringwood," said Edison Wetlands Association Executive Director Robert Spiegel.
The EPA is currently considering seven options for site clean-up, ranging from completely removing toxic material to the more controversial option of capping affected areas.
"The fight for a clean Ringwood is far from over,” Spiegel continued. “The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will be deciding soon whether to fully remove the toxic waste from the gaping mine pit next to the Ramapough Indians' homes. Judging from the overwhelming public reaction, it is clear that full cleanup is the only real option. We urge all supporters to stay tuned to learn how you can help."
*Photo courtesy of Edison Wetlands Association.
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