Murphy DEP Commissioner LaTourette Urged To Provide Public Records On DEP Enforcement Actions At Ringwood Mines Superfund Site

DEP Ford Lawsuit Seeks $100,000 Per Day In Civil Penalties For Violations  Of NJ Environmental Laws Over a 45 Year Period

The Murphy DEP and Attorney General issued a joint press release last week, touting their lawsuit against Ford Motor Company seeking public compensation for Ford’s Damages to Natural Resources (NRD) at the Ringwood Mines Superfund site.

I wrote an overview analysis to put that lawsuit in context and point out vulnerabilities.

In addition to the NRD aspects, I was intrigued by one particular aspect of the lawsuit, which seeks the award of $50,000 per day in civil penalties for violations of the NJ Solid Waste Management Act and NJ Soil Compensation And Control Act. (a total of $100,000 per day, for a period of about 45 years).

While DEP and the AG are not pursuing criminal indictments, those are the maximum civil penalties allowed under NJ environmental laws, and are rarely, if ever, sought by DEP.

I could not recall prior DEP enforcement actions against Ford at Ringwood, so my initial impression was that this was not a credible demand. For example, if I were a Judge, I would ask why should DEP ask a Court to impose penalties that they had failed to seek under their own administrative enforcement powers?

So, to get the facts on DEP’s enforcement actions against Ford, I filed an Open Public Records (OPRA) request and sent Commissioner LaTourette a note requesting his support for that inquiry.

Here is my email to Commissioner LaTourette – we’ll keep you posted on DEP’s response:

Dear Commissioner LaTourette:

Per DEP’s recent NRD lawsuit against Ford Motor Company regarding the Ringwood Mines Superfund site, I noticed that DEP is seeking, among other things, $50,000 per day Civil penalties for violations of the NJ Spill Compensation Control Act and NJ Solid Waste Management Act.

To clarify and provide public information regarding that provision of the DEP’s NRD lawsuit, I filed the below OPRA request.

In light of your professed commitments to transparency and the public interest, I would appreciate your support in responding to this OPRA request to ensure that it receives a fully compliant response.

“I request the following public records:

1) DEP compliance and enforcement actions (Notices of Violation, penalty assessments, settlement agreements, fines collected, etc) issued to Ford Motor Company for violations of the NJ Spill Compensation and Control Act, the NJ Solid Waste Management Act, NJ Water Pollution Control Act and other applicable NJ laws and DEP regulations for activities at the Ringwood Mines Superfund site;

2) Written communications between Ford Motor Company and the NJ DEP regarding compliance and enforcement activities for activities at the Ringwood Mines Superfund site.”

Thank you,

Bill Wolfe