|
YARD WORK: Paula Carvalho's sign sums up the feelings of many residents of North Tiverton Tuesday, where crews removed contaminated soil from Gail Corvello's Bay Street property - she's in the pink shirt - and property on Hilton Street. The group ENACT claims that "The area of concern is 6,875 times larger than the 800 square feet" that was excavated Tuesday.
|
TIVERTON -- Demonstrators stood outside ENACT president Gail
Corvello's Bay Street home and daycare yesterday while crews removed
contaminated soil that has been defined as an "imminent hazard" for
North Tiverton residents.
Corvello's property, and the Hair family's land on Hilton Street, are
the first to have tainted soil removed by Southern Union. Southern Union
is the owner of the former Fall River Gas Co., which at one time had a
coal gasification plant that is suspected of contaminating soil in the
neighborhood. Southern Union, saying it was a "good, corporate citizen,"
agreed to pay to remove soil from the Corvello and Hair properties after
testing showed levels of contamination that posed an imminent health
risk. Southern Union has admitted no blame in the contamination, and
more testing remains.
"Seeing Southern Union out here in our community finally removing some
of their toxic waste is a welcome sight," read an ENACT handout that was
distributed by the demonstrators. "It has been over a year since we
discovered that our neighborhood contains contamination consisting of
arsenic, cyanide, lead, mercury and other carcinogenic chemicals. It's
about time they got here."
But the handouts warned that it was too early to celebrate. "Southern
Union's action is comparable to you going out to mow the lawn and
clipping the first blade of grass. The area of concern is 6,875 times
larger than the 800 square feet" that was excavated yesterday.
Corvello and the ENACT demonstrators are urging Southern Union to "keep
on going."
Two weeks ago, Southern Union had agreed to do so. The company submitted
to the state Department of Environmental Management a schedule and
time-line for additional testing. It has already tested nearly half of
the 151 properties in North Tiverton, however the DEM and others have
said the testing was insufficient.
An environmental firm hired by New England Gas Co., on behalf of its
parent company Southern Union, plans to begin the next round of testing
by May 19 and submit a report of its finding to the DEM by Oct. 1.
"That's another spring, summer and fall without us using our
properties," Corvello said by telephone Monday.
The ENACT handout calls on the gas company to "pick up the pace by
immediately beginning the second phase" of the investigation.
Corvello says the cleanup in her front yard yesterday is "definitely not
enough," because there could still be contamination in her back yard,
where the children would play if they could. She will not let them out
to play until the gas company completes "comprehensive testing of each
property."
Until that happens, she and other North Tiverton residents agree they
are being held "hostage by the unknown."
"We have not been able to enjoy our yards for a whole year, and the
removal of these two, minute areas of contamination doesn't change our
situation at all," the ENACT handout reads. "We still cannot use our
properties. All the fears and anxieties remain ... and there is no end
in sight."
Alisha A. Pina can be reached by phone at (401) 277-7465 or by e-mail at
apina [at] projo.com.
ARTICLE TOOLS: 
