By Benjamin Reuter
I live in Wanaque, New Jersey and the “Toxic Legacy” article
for The Record brings a story closer to home than it already was. I knew
about the paint sludge that is strewn about the forest floor in Upper Ringwood. I used to go hiking back there with a
couple of my friends and we’d point it out to each other. It is absolutely
disgusting to see that kind of pollution in such a beautiful area of New Jersey.
The worst part about the whole
dilemma is the fact that people still live on top of this toxic waste and there
is really nothing that they can do as a small family to get it out of their
land. They had their buildings set on top of these deposits of chemical waste
without knowing it was there or without knowing how dangerous it really was for
their health.
I went to Lakeland Regional
High School and I knew
many of the people that lived in the area where the toxic sludge exists. I
never really asked my friends who lived up there about it because at the time I
did not know much about the topic other than there was paint sludge all around
their homes. I did ask my one friend who has relatives that live amongst the
paint sludge about the stuff and all I ever got from him was, “That shit is
everywhere. My parents moved away from that area to leave all that garbage and
find a better place in Ringwood to live.” My friend doesn’t have extremely
strong ties with his family that still lives near the mine areas, due to family
issues and such, but he always pointed out that the paint sludge just gave his
parents just another reason to leave that area and find a different home to
live in. He seems happy with the decision.
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