TIVERTON -- The neighborhood group ENACT is refusing to participate in a community advisory group proposed by New England Gas Co. last month to discuss the effects of soil contamination in North Tiverton.
ENACT wants to accept the company's offer to pay for an independent consultant to review the many reports recently released about the area. It has been relying on volunteer consultants to interpret the technical reports that are hundreds of pages thick. It fears this aid will soon expire.
Yet, New England Gas says the independent consultant and advisory group are a package deal.
"The community advisory group [suggestion] merits serious review and consideration," said Christopher J. Medici, director of communications for New England Gas. "The groups have been used quite effectively in the past."
A community advisory group (CAG) is a concept originally developed by the federal Environmental Protection Agency for Superfund sites. The agency's Web site states that the groups "can assist EPA in making better decisions on how to clean up a site. It offers EPA a unique opportunity to hear -- and seriously consider -- community preferences for site cleanup and remediation."
The EPA states that these groups are good for sites involved in long-term cleanups. Most CAGs have 15 to 20 members, half of whom are residents. The remaining members include local business owners, town officials and others affected by the situation.
The agency also states that an existing group can be selected as the CAG for that community if "it represents the diverse interests of the community."
The North Tiverton CAG would include all stake holders -- ENACT, the gas company, town officials, the state Health Department and Department of Environmental Management. A DEM official has been asked to facilitate the group, but has yet to make a decision.
The consultant would be chosen solely by the advisory group. The gas company "will simply write the check," Medici said.
"The group is not intended to take the place of ENACT," Medici said. "We commend ENACT on their leadership of the neighborhood. It is not to dilute or substitute the role of the stake holders. It is merely a forum to talk... a fair, common ground forum for all the stake holders."
ENACT disagrees.
It believes the gas company has other intentions with such a group, such as slowing the progress ENACT has made with proving the gas company is responsible for the contamination.
State officials issued a "letter of responsibility" to the gas company last March. The letter said the former Fall River Gas Co., which New England Gas's parent company -- Southern Union -- bought three years ago, may have used the area to dump coal gasification waste in the 1950s and 1960s.
"I don't think [the advisory group] is beneficial for us," ENACT president Gail Corvello said. "Having outside people would take away from what we need to portray. We are the ones living it. We're a united front and have been getting a lot done....
"Why would we want to jeopardize things by starting over with a big group? Larger groups tend to be very dysfunctional. There are too many varying opinions and it's harder to get things accomplished."
Alisha Pina can be reached by phone at 253-1200 or by e-mail at apinaATprojo.com.
