TIVERTON -- A second round of soil testing in the Bay Street neighborhood of North Tiverton shows widespread contamination -- 2,335 instances in which hazardous chemicals exceed safe limits on a fewer than 100 properties.
But the New England Gas Co., which submitted the results of the latest testing to the state Department of Environmental Management in August, proposes no plan for remediation, according to a DEM official.
Instead, New England Gas wants to further analyze the results to assess health risks, a complicated mathematical exercise that would not lead to a cleanup, the president of a neighborhood advocacy group said last night.
Gail Corvello, president of ENACT (Environmental Neighborhood Awareness Committee of Tiverton) presented a summary of testing results at a public forum at the high school attended by some 60 people, including officials of the state Department of Environmental Management and the Department of Health.
Cyanide, arsenic, lead, and benzo(a)pyrene were detected in concentrations that all exceeded safe limits for residential property.
The worst readings were for benzo(a)pyrene, which was detected in concentrations 285 times the safe limit from samples taken no deeper than six inches beneath the surface.
Readings taken up to 2 feet below ground level showed almost twice that concentration of benzo(a)pyrene, or 530 times the safe limit. Dr. Robert Vanderslice of the state Department of Health described benzo(a)pyrene as a "probable" carcinogen.
Other readings show:
Lead in concentrations 8 times greater than acceptable in samples no more than 6 inches deep and 37 times beyond safe limits in borings taken as deep as 2 feet
Arsenic at 7 times safe limits in the shallower samples and 19 times acceptable levels at depths of up to 2 feet
Cyanide slightly over the acceptable level near the surface and 2.4 times beyond the safe limit at depths of 2 feet.
Jeffrey Crawford, principal environmental scientist for DEM, said that New England Gas has not complied with the agency's request for a remediation plan.
DEM has designated New England Gas as the responsible party, saying there is ample evidence that the toxic waste in the Bay Street neighborhood is waste from a coal gasification plant that operated in Fall River in the early part of the last century.
Crawford and Vanderslice each said that the mathematical "human health risk assessments" that New England Gas proposes on 76 properties would lead to restrictions on the use of the land rather than removal of the soil.
But no such assessments can take place without the approval of the property owners, he said.
Crawford said it was clear last night that no one from the Bay Street area is willing to agree with restrictions on the use of their yards -- an observation he said he will take back to DEM.
He said the agency will issue comments to the New England Gas report in the next few weeks.
If the gas company is not cooperating, DEM may take administrative action or seek an order from the Superior Court to force removal of the contaminated soil, he said.
Town Council president Louise Durfee, asked what the town will do about contamination beneath roads and public rights of way, said the Town Council will discuss joining a lawsuit against New England Gas filed by ENACT earlier this year.
State Rep. Joseph Amaral, R-Portsmouth and Tiverton, characterized the health risk analyses proposed by the gas company as "mathematical voodoo."
"We need accountability," Amaral said, noting that the gas company is asking the state Public Utilities Commission for "double digit increases" in the rates it charges its customers.
He suggested that New England Gas should be held to the same standards as homeowners, who could face criminal felony charges for having lead paint on their houses after a new law goes into effect Nov. 1.
Amaral and state Sen. Walter Felag, D-Warren, Bristol and Tiverton, said the General Assembly has appropriated $50,000 for DEM to to pursue legal or administrative action, if necessary, against New England Gas.
And another $50,000 has been appropriated so that ENACT can hire independent consultants to evaluate scientific findings.
Meanwhile, Corvello and others expressed frustration with the lack of progress since the contamination was first discovered three years ago, when workmen installing a sewer main noticed a bright blue streak in the soil -- a sign of high concentrations of cyanide.
Since then, the town has imposed a moratorium on any excavation north of Judson Street to the Massachusetts state line and west of Church Street to the shoreline.
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