The price tag for all of this remains large: according to a 2005 Government Accountability Office report, it will cost US$20 billion to remediate the 142 largest Superfund sites.
For its part, Ford says its efforts to clean the area through the years have been nothing less than rigorous, and that the company's voluntary decision to study the area's ground and streams for pollutants after closing its plant reflects its overall commitment to making the area safe for residents. The company says it is doing additional cleanup work at known landfill areas, including at two abandoned mine sites.
More specifically, the company said in a statement that contractors have removed several tonnes of paint sludge deposits from Upper Ringwood sites and that samples of soil, surface water, sediment and groundwater have shown that the sludge has not migrated into soils or water supplies.
But residents say other warning signs still concern them, despite assurances from Ford and the EPA. Earlier this year, for example, New Jersey health authorities warned residents not to hunt squirrels (a longtime staple of the local diet) after discovering a squirrel that was contaminated with lead.
Vivian Milligan, 55, said that the notification unnerved her and that she had not gotten satisfactory answers as to why she had two miscarriages, an ulcer, and has high blood pressure. Or why her husband has had four of his toes amputated. Or why three of her cousins have each had a leg amputated.
"I really feel that there's a connection between the contamination and all the health problems around here," she says. "There's just too many sick people for one little area."
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