In a March 19-announced proposed federal consent decree with U.S. and New Jersey officials, Ford Motor Co. and Ringwood, N.J., have agreed to the $3.4-million final-phase Superfund cleanup of an abandoned 500-acre mine site in the town used as a toxic waste dump site in the 1960s and 1970s by the automaker’s large plant in nearby Mahwah. 

The plant, closed in 1980 after producing nearly six million vehicles, had at the time been one of the largest U.S. vehicle assembly plants. The dump site, one of a number of iron ore mines operating in the state until the late 19th century, was added to the Superfund list in 1983, removed a decade later and returned in 2006 after more contamination was identified.

According to the U.S Justice Dept., several waterways drain the site and flow to the Wanaque Reservoir, a key state drinking water source. After a $21.2-million cleanup order in 2020, the site was deemed safe. But a New York University Langone Health study last year said it remained a public health risk. 

The new cleanup addresses benzene, dioxane and lead contamination in groundwater and mine water, said Justice.

The proposed decree also covers reimbursements to the state and to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for past remediation expenses, with no further lawsuits by those entities to be filed against the company and town.

The agreement includes a 60-day public comment period and required court approval.