1965: Ford purchases Ringwood’s historic iron mines, including the historic mining houses. The area was and continues to be home to the Ramapough Lenape Turtle Clan. Turtle Clan ancestors worked the mines.

1965-1975: Ford dumps millions of gallons of toxic sludge in Peters Mine, O’Connor Landfill, on “Sludge Hill” and throughout the entire neighborhood. These 3 areas will collectively become known as the Ringwood Mines/Landfill Superfund Site, which has the distinction of being home to the only minority community in town and of being the only Superfund site in the nation where people actually lived while the dumping occurred. Ford hides its activities from the residents, and children get sick when they play in the toxic soil. 

1970’s: Ford, aware that their dumping is contaminating the environment, begins to divest the 500 acre plot. They gift the Borough of Ringwood 290 acres, including the historic mine houses. 

1983: The Ringwood Mines/Landfill Superfund Site officially becomes a Superfund site.

1994: The Ringwood Republican Council agrees with EPA plans to delist the Superfund Site even though visible toxic sludge remains in a residential neighborhood. 

2004-2005:  A new Democratic Council is elected, and Mayor Taule holds the first ever meeting at Borough Hall with the Turtle Clan community in Upper Ringwood, their attorneys, the EPA, and the NJDEP.  

2006: After years of pressure from leaders in the Turtle Clan community, and with the support of the Ringwood Democratic Council, the site becomes the first and only site to be renamed a Superfund because of a failed cleanup. Democrats and Borough staff discover old insurance policies for $82M that were not being used to cover damages at the site.  With the support of the Democratic Council, Borough Attorney lays the groundwork with the EPA to force Ford to clean up the Site for good.

2006-2016:  The EPA establishes the Ringwood Superfund Community Advisory Group (CAG), which includes residents from Upper Ringwood, the broader community, environmental experts and members of the Ringwood Council. The CAG supports the excavation of the 106,000 tons of contaminated soil from the O’Connor Landfill and turning the remediated land into open space for the Community.

2008: Republicans take back control of Council, stop cleanup plans, and begin partnering with Ford to leave contamination in Ringwood.

2012: Borough Manager Heck and the Borough’s new "environmental attorney, who was paid by the Insurance Carriers, travel to Dearborn, MI to meet with Ford behind closed doors.  A new controversial solution starts to take shape: the Borough would receive a $4.5 million “settlement” if they agree to Ford’s demands to leave the contamination in the residential neighborhood and pave over it rather than clean it up, as residents have demanded. Furthermore, the proposal would require them to build a new recycling center on top of the site (even though the town already has one). They would also need to support leaving contaminated water in the mines and monitoring the conditions rather than any remedy that might improve contaminated conditions there. 

2013:  The Council begins a full court press for capping contamination in place at the  O’Connor landfill.  They hold public meetings where it is clear this plan is extremely unpopular in the community.

2014:  The EPA releases the Ringwood Mines/Landfill Record of Decision (ROD) which informs the public of how the Superfund Site will be remediated. The ROD makes clear that the EPA’s “preferred remedy” is to remove the contaminants, it gives the Borough permission to leave the contamination in place, under the conditions that this remedy can happen more quickly. The Borough reveals their plan to leave contamination in place at O’Connor, and the public is shocked and outraged. EPA holds a packed public meeting at Ryerson concerning the decision. Capping O’Connor Landfill saves Ford over $36 million. 

2016: In response to this decision, residents form a campaign to fight capping the site, known as Ringwood CARES. They receive massive public support and enough signatures to get the measure on the ballot. Despite public outcry, the Borough rejects the ballot initiative and takes residents to Court. In court, the Borough is represented by two of its own attorneys plus three of Ford’s attorneys, and the judge says no to the ballot initiative. 

2017: The first trouble with the capping plan appears as 1,4 dioxane is discovered at very high levels in groundwater at Superfund Site. The Borough withholds information regarding the likely human carcinogen for months, but North Jersey releases the information, and the findings put the plans on pause.

2021: Work begins at the O’Connor landfill, and contaminated soil is consolidated to the center of the 12-acre site.

2022: The EPA orders work at O’Connor Landfill to be stopped after an unexpected ditch appears between Peters Mine Rd and the work site–a ironic turn of events considering that the Borough warned this exact outcome would occur if the contaminants were removed, and assured residents that capping contaminants in place would prevent it from happening. The 1-4 ft difference in elevation could destabilize the road and the slope alongside it. This is very close to a sinkhole that opened in 2016. The Borough must redesign the site and gain EPA approval before work can start again.

2023: After a full year and pressure from community activist Wayne Mann and former Mayor Wenke Taule, residents are finally notified of the work stoppage at the site. Caps only cover the top of the site and are known to fail, so it is easy to imagine more problems down the road. Work, which was expected to resume in September, remains on hold due to permitting issues and poor communication.

2024: After several delays, work finally resumes on April 1st.

Note: Historical timeline made possible with contributions from: Wayne Mann, of Mann vs. Ford; Wenke Taule, Former Mayor of Ringwood; and Lisa Chiang, Founder of Ringwood CARES, a nonprofit made up of concerned citizens who fought against capping the site.