Sustainability 2011/12

Climate Change and the Environment

Remediation

Ringwood Miners Landfill Site

Ford Motor Company continues to address concerns raised in connection with Ford’s prior disposal activities in Ringwood, New Jersey, including the adequacy of the prior investigation and cleanup. The Ringwood site was used for decades for the legal and illegal disposal of a wide variety of wastes by the Borough of Ringwood and other parties. Ford used the site to dispose of waste materials (primarily cardboard, wood wastes and paint sludge from the former Mahwah Assembly Plant) from 1967 to the middle of 1971. Ford participated in remediation activities at the site in the 1980s and 1990s. In September 2004, Ford entered into an Administrative Order on Consent (AOC) and Settlement Agreement (AOC) with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regarding additional environmental activities at the Ringwood site. Ford entered into a second AOC with the EPA in May 2010 that obligates Ford to complete the remedial site investigations, human health and ecological risk assessments, as well as feasibility studies for each of the three soil operable units (OUs) and one groundwater OU. Ford, with the Borough of Ringwood’s cooperation, is currently completing the necessary reports for the three soil OUs. It is anticipated that the EPA will select a final remedial approach for the three soil OUs later this year and construction could begin in late 2013.