TIVERTON -- The state Department of
Environmental Management has given New England Gas Co. a Jan. 4 deadline
to state in writing that the company will provide at least three cleanup
proposals for the contaminated soil affecting scores of Bay Street area
homeowners. The deadline was part of a strongly worded letter stating
the company failed to submit the required remediation options.
If the gas company were to continue not to provide the information, the
DEM says in the Nov. 23 letter, the company may face up to a $25,000
fine per violation, per day. The DEM could issue a notice of violation
and order.
Last week's letter, called a notice of intent to enforce, is a kind of
warning that precedes that step. It renews pressure on the gas company
and marks a turning point because, in the environmental agency's view,
it is time to move from the testing phase to begin to decide how to
clean up the area in North Tiverton.
"We are saying, 'Look, we want the investigation stage completed. We
want a minimum of three alternatives so we can move this from an
investigation stage to a decision on how the problem is going to be
rectified," said Leo Hellested, chief of the agency's Office of Waste
Management, in an interview.
Hellested, speaking generally about the process, said there is no
guarantee fines would be imposed right away should the deadline pass
without compliance. The DEM would have to consult on any matter first.
He sounded hopeful that the issue with the gas company would be worked
out and said the company has worked diligently on the testing.
Christopher Medici, a spokesman for New England Gas Co., said in an
interview that the company received the letter and other information
yesterday. "So at this point, our legal and environmental folks are
reviewing all the information we received," he said, adding that at this
point "we are really going to reserve comment until we have an
opportunity to carefully review all of the materials received today."
Hellested said it is standard to provide a minimum of three cleanup
options known as "remedial alternatives" once a site investigation is
close to completion. They are conceptual alternatives, he said, and any
eventual cleanup may or may not include putting some or all of them into
action.
The Tiverton issue came to light in 2002, when discovery of blue-stained
soil during a sewer main project in the Bay Street area first raised
concern among residents. Evidence emerged suggesting the defunct Fall
River Gas Co. -- which New England Gas Co. later acquired -- may have
dumped waste in the area during the 1960s and 1970s from a decades-old
coal gasification process. In March 2003, the Department of
Environmental Management issued a letter of responsibility to New
England Gas Co. for the Bay Street investigation.
New England Gas Co. hired consultants and has done rounds of soil
sampling and testing on properties in the area. The company negotiated
with residents to get access to properties.
In October, the second round of soil sampling found 2,335 instances of
hazardous chemicals that were above safe limits on properties. That
included arsenic, cyanide, lead, and benzo(a)pyrene. The benzo(a)pyrene,
found in concentrations that were 285 times the safe level in samples
and were dug no more than 6 inches into the ground, are the worst of the
findings.
When those figures became public, the gas company had not proposed the
required remediation plan, Jeffrey Crawford, principal environmental
scientist with DEM, said last month. Instead, the gas company suggested
"human health risk assessments," using mathematical calculations, which
officials said would mean having residents agree to restrictions in
their yards rather than cleaning up the materials.
Many neighborhood residents, who have been under a town-imposed
moratorium that bans disturbing soil in their yards, did not go for
that. Some have said they have been living in fear about what it may
mean. And residents, who formed the neighborhood group ENACT, and
elected officials have complained the matter has gone on too long
without action.
Owners of 74 Bay Street area homes have a lawsuit pending against New
England Gas Co. in an attempt to compel cleanup of the materials. The
gas company has requested that the U.S. District Court dismiss the
lawsuit.
Staff writer Michael P. McKinney can be reached at (401) 277-7447 or at
mmckinne(AT)projo.com
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