September/October 2007
Progress Update Ringwood Mines/ Landfill Site |
Ford Motor Company has been working closely with the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) to follow up on cleanup activities undertaken in the 1980s and 1990s at the Ringwood Mines Landfill Site in Ringwood, New Jersey, where waste materials from Ford's former assembly plant in Mahwah, New Jersey, were disposed from late 1967 through mid-1971. Other parties, including the Borough of Ringwood, used the site for the disposal of waste materials before, during, and after the period when Ford-related wastes were brought to the Site.
Ford is providing this Progress Update to share information about developments in the investigation and cleanup of the Site during the months of September and October 2007.
Status of Removal Activities
Paint sludge deposits have now been removed from all identified sludge removal areas (SR), with the exception of SR-6 and SR-5. Surficial paint sludge removal is under way at SR-6, and SR-5 will be addressed as part of the Peters Mine Pit Investigation. [To view a copy of the USEPA-approved Paint Sludge and Drum Remnant Removal Work Plan, which identifies the SR areas, visit Ford's Web site at www.ringwoodsiteupdate.com.]
SR-6 Investigation
Ford's contractor, ARCADIS, is conducting surficial paint sludge removal activities in SR-6. As part of these activities, ARCADIS has excavated and characterized materials for off-site disposal. ARCADIS has also excavated confirmatory test pits and conducted post-excavation sampling to confirm the removal of surficial sludge from the area.
The SR-6 area is located adjacent to the former Cannon Mine Area, which was used for many years by the Borough of Ringwood for the disposal of municipal and other wastes. Portions of SR-6 area on a slope that is believed to have been formed by historical landfilling activities. The State of New Jersey has requested that the Borough of Ringwood remove and dispose of these landfilled materials due to its prior landfilling activities in the area and its responsibility as an owner of the property.
Site-Wide Test Pit Investigation
USEPA and NJDEP required Ford to excavate 79 'site-wide' test pits in areas outside the Cannon Mine Pit area, the Peters Mine Pit area, and the O'Connor Disposal Area. (Additional test pits have been excavated in those areas as part of their focused investigations.) EPA and NJDEP identified the site-wide test pit locations based on the results of the comprehensive reconnaisssance survey that was conducted to evaluate the potential presence of paint sludge deposits on the Site (click here to review the reconnaisaance survey results). In September, EPA gave the go-ahead to complete the remaining site-wide test pit excavations. Ford has completed the 79 test pits and will submit the results to NJDEP and USEPA. The USEPA-approved report will be posted on www.ringwoodsiteupdate.com.
Peters Mine Pit Investigation
In January 2006, the USEPA approved Ford's work plan for investigation of the Peters Mine Area of the Ringwood Site. Pursuant to the approved lpan, ARCADIS excavated a total of 7 test pits and 2 test trenches to characterize the natuer and extent of fill materials surrounding the Peters Mine Pit. As expected, small amounts of buried paint sludge were encountered in some of the test pits. Paint sludge deposits were found in 2 test pits. The bulk of the material observed during the test pit sampling process was soil fill, broken rock, mine tailings, and debris consisting of plastic and metal scrap, cardboard, and wood fragments.
In addition to test pits, ARCADIS installed additional groundwater monitoring wells in the vicinity of Peters Mine Pit and collected groundwater and surface water samples. At the direction of USEPA, Ford also submitted a work plan to lower a camera to the base of the Peters Mine air shaft (click here to see a map of area) and obtain water samples from appropriate depths within the shaft after the review of video footage obtained. ARCADIS obtained water samples from the shaft in August and submitted the results to USEPA in October. Additional samples were collected in October concurrent with the site-wide groundwater sampling effort. Ford will post the results of this investigation on www.ringwoodsiteupdate.com once they have been approved by USEPA.
Cannon Mine Investigation
In March, Ford submitted a revised work plan for the investigation of the former Cannon Mine Area, a landfill area that was used for many years by the Borough of Ringwood for waste disposakl. The objective of the Cannon Mine Work Plan is to characterize potential waste materials in the Cannon Mine Pit Area as well as evaluate the quality of the groundwater in the area. [The Cannon Mine Work Plan can be found at www.ringwoodsiteupdate.com.]
In September, EPA approved the work plan and gave Ford the go-ahead to undertake the Cannon Mine investigation. Pursuant to the USEPA-approved work plan, ARCADIS has been collecting surface soil samples, excavating test pits in the Cannon Mine pit, and will be installing directional borings to characterize waste materials in the pit. ARCADIS also will be installing and sampling additional monitoring wells in the area. During all of this work, ARCADIS continues to conduct real-time vibration monitoring to ensure site activities do not have any impact on potential subsurface voids in the area, in accordance with EPA and NJDEP requirements.
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Ford is committed to addressing remaining environmental issues at the Ringwood Site associated with the disposal of Ford-related wastes. Ford is also committed to keeping the community informed and addressing questions or concerns about Site activities. If you would like a copy of previous issues of the Progress Update, or have any questions regarding activities at the Site, please contact Jon Holt, Ford Community Relations Consultant, at (908) 832-0557.
