NJ sues Ford over mining that contaminated tribal land

By WAYNE PARRY
Associated Press

RINGWOOD, N.J. (AP) — New Jersey officials are suing Ford Motor Company, alleging the automaker contaminated the ancestral homeland of a Native American tribe by dumping paint sludge and other pollutants into a former mine. It seeks unspecified damages to restore the land, and to compensate the state and local communities for losses they sustained when natural resources were damaged at the former Ringwood Mine site in northern New Jersey. Much of that land is the ancestral home of the Ramapough Lenape Nation, whose members believe cancer deaths and other illnesses are attributable to the contamination. Ford did not immediately respond to a request for comment.