The attorney general will ask state regulators to consider the cleanup as part of its review of the proposed sale of the New England Gas Co., which state officials say is responsible for the contamination.

01:00 AM EDT on Thursday, April 6, 2006

BY GINA MACRIS
Journal Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE -- The office of Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch intends to file a motion to intervene today in the proposed sale of New England Gas, hoping to use the deal to leverage a cleanup of contaminated soil in North Tiverton.

The actual filing with the Division of Public Utilities and Carriers will say only that the attorney general wishes to intervene on behalf of rate payers in the sale of the gas company to National Grid, according to Assistant Attorney General Michael Rubin.

But Rubin, who heads the environmental division in Lynch's office, said that it's "our intention that the intervention cover all aspects of the sale, including making sure that there are sufficient assets to clean up the contamination and the nightmare that the residents are experiencing."

Michael Healey, a spokesman for Lynch, said the soil contamination in Tiverton is the "presenting issue" in a host of concerns about the sale, including any effect it might have on rates, customer service, and a pending appeal over the expansion of a liquefied natural gas facility at Fields Point.

It has been 3 1/2 years since toxic soil was discovered in Tiverton, when workers digging a sewer line underneath Bay Street discovered blue-tinged soil that turned out to be contaminated with cyanide.

Subsequent testing of nearly 100 properties in the Bay Street neighborhood turned up a total of 2,335 instances of hazardous chemicals that exceeded safe limits, not only cyanide but arsenic, lead and benzo(a)pyrene, among others.

Since August 2002, the residents of the Bay Street neighborhood, just south of the Massachusetts line, have been virtual prisoners in their homes, unable to sell or tap into any equity they may have built up, or even use their yards for fear of contamination.

The state Department of Environmental Management traced the contaminated waste to the former Fall River Gas Co., which burned coal to generate gas during the first part of the last century.

In March 2003, DEM issued a letter of responsibility to New England Gas, which had acquired Fall River Gas.

After New England Gas had completed two rounds of testing last summer, DEM set a deadline of Jan. 4 for the company to submit at least three plans for remediation.

But the gas company, which is being sued by the residents, has balked. It has challenged DEM's assertion that the utility is responsible for the contamination and even said DEM had no authority to impose the Jan. 4 deadline.

Since January, DEM has been silent on its plans for forcing New England Gas to begin the cleanup, and the residents have grown increasingly discouraged.

The homeowners' organization, ENACT (Environmental Neighborhood Awareness Committee of Tiverton) has circulated a petition calling on Governor Carcieri and Attorney General Lynch to take steps to halt the sale unless an acceptable plan is in place to clean up the soil.

ENACT announced plans to deliver the petition to Governor Carcieri's office today.

DEM Director Michael Sullivan said yesterday that he had reached out both to the governor and the attorney general's office about the possibility of exploring legal avenues to ensure that enough money is set aside for a cleanup as part of the sale.

Rubin, of the attorney general's office, said, "It's probably a case of many minds converging on the same conclusion."

"It's something the attorney general's staff and the attorney general himself have been interested in for some time," he said.

The Division of Public Utilities and Carriers has set a deadline of Monday for motions to intervene and will allow the petitioners until April 21 to respond.

If a hearing is necessary to discuss issues related to intervention, it will occur April 25 in the division's hearing room at 89 Jefferson Blvd., in Warwick, according to a memo from Thomas F. Ahern, the division's administrator.

The cities of Providence and East Providence have already filed motions to intervene out of concern that the sale might have the effect of reviving a bid by Keyspan to expand the LNG facility at Fields Point.

The existing Keyspan facility is on land owned by New England Gas. While National Grid also plans to acquire Keyspan in a separate deal, that sale is not part of the filing involving New England Gas.

gmacris@projo.com / (401) 277-7455