TIVERTON -- New England Gas Co. yesterday released its much-anticipated plans to test for contaminated soil on 16 North Tiverton properties, which were not studied last year, and to do another round of soil testing on scores of other properties.
A neighborhood committee from the affected Bay Street area, its consultant, officials and anyone else have three weeks to comment on the plans to the state Department of Environmental Management and to argue for changes. The state DEM will weigh those comments and respond to the gas company.
"We sincerely hope that when this round of testing and analysis are complete, we will have a clear understanding of what we are dealing with and have a common understanding of the most appropriate response," said Christopher J. Medici, director of communications for New England Gas Co. He added: "It is our objective to continue to work closely with [the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management], Tiverton officials and neighborhood stake holders in a timely way to complete the investigation."
The parent of New England Gas bought the former Fall River Gas Co., which is suspected of dumping gas plant waste decades ago in North Tiverton, where some residents have found blue-stained soil and other signs of pollution. Some of the pollutants detected are cancer-causing agents. Concerns emerged about two years ago when workers digging at Judson and Bay streets found dirt that smelled like oil and found a sheen on nearby ground water.
State environmental officials issued a letter of responsibility to Southern Union, which is the parent of New England Gas.
The proposed next round of testing comes after the gas company's soil testing last year left neighbors and local officials unimpressed.
Two maps in the gas company's proposed work plans show variations in testing for different properties.
For the latest proposed testing of the 74 lots, the gas company's consultant would take "surface soil" samples -- up to two feet deep -- on some properties, while doing additional, deeper soil testing on others. On some 28 of those properties, in one or more locations on each lot, the company proposes to dig a hole two feet wide and four feet deep.
"The purpose of that is to give us a much bigger picture of what the subsurface looks like," said Timothy M. O'Connor, environmental services director with Vanasse Hangen Brustlin Inc, the gas company's consultant.
However, a handful of those property owners or tenants last year would not allow the company on to the properties to allow testing.
For the other work plan, the 16 lots to be soil-sampled for the first time, the plan is a mix of surface soil testing and deeper -- subsurface -- testing.
Gail Corvello, the president of the neighborhood group ENACT, which first raised awareness about the potential contamination, had some first-blush questions about the gas company's plans. She wondered whether they will meet the goals of ENACT, which wants a full delineation of the pollution's spread.
"You need to find everything first," Corvello said in an interview at her home, where $2,000 worth of interlocking foam tiles cover her backyard. That's to allow children at her home-based day care center to play outside.
Corvello said she and others were surprised; they expected lengthier reports. Still, she said she would reserve judgment on the gas company's filed plans until ENACT and its environmental consultant, Fuss and O'Neill, go over them. She said she had not yet gone through the plans, which New England Gas Co. hand-delivered yesterday to the media, ENACT and town officials. The plans were formally filed with the DEM late Monday afternoon.
"We will look at it in the next couple of days," said John Chambers, of Fuss and O'Neill, the Bay Street neighborhood consultant. He said one thing Fuss and O'Neill and North Tiverton neighbors will examine is how effectively they believe the soil testing plans would pinpoint the extent of contamination.
Differences between the neighborhood and the gas company remain. A New England Gas Co. news release announcing the additional soil testing reiterated that last year's initial testing, according to the gas company's experts, "determined that the area was not subjected to widespread filling of coal gasification as had been originally suspected."
ENACT and several officials are not convinced. As Corvello spoon-fed squash baby food to one of the children she cares for yesterday, she said she knows the gas company has the means to do a full study of the area, but must choose to do so.
"That's the fear we have been living with for a long time now: not knowing what we are dealing with," she said.
ARTICLE TOOLS: 
