By TIM FAULKNER/ecoRI
News staff
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| Acres of parking lot will be removed and capped to contain contaminated soil outside Centredale Manor and Brook Village Apartments in North Providence, near the Johnston line. (Tim Faulkner/ecoRI News) |
The new director of the New England office of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the latest and perhaps final phase of the cleanup of one of Rhode Island’s most polluted properties.
Before joining the EPA
on Aug, 22, Dennis Deziel worked as a top lobbyist for Dow Inc., the chemical
giant with a woeful environmental record. The company has a decades-long
history of infamous pollution and public health scandals such as Agent Orange,
Union Carbide, and defective breast implants.
After dioxin contamination occurred at its chemical manufacturing plant in Midland, Mich., Dow concealed documents from government officials. The company was allowed to edit an EPA report about the company's pollution.
After dioxin contamination occurred at its chemical manufacturing plant in Midland, Mich., Dow concealed documents from government officials. The company was allowed to edit an EPA report about the company's pollution.
In 2013, Dow was ordered
to pay $1.2 billion for the company’s involvement in a scheme to fix the price
for urethane, the chemical used to make foam for furniture, packaging, and
vehicles.
Deziel began work as
EPA’s Region 1 administrator after five years at Dow as its director of federal
government affairs.
He visited the Centredale Manor Superfund site on Sept. 9 to formally announce a settlement with the owners of the contaminated site who are paying $42 million toward a $100 million cleanup. The work involves a 1.5-mile stretch of wetlands and commercial and residential property along the Woonasquatucket River.
The cleanup includes potentially draining Allendale and Lyman Mill ponds to excavate some 156,000 cubic tons of contaminated sediment and removing and capping about 9 acres of parking lot. Contaminated soil will be sent to the state landfill or to a designated hazardous waste facility.
He visited the Centredale Manor Superfund site on Sept. 9 to formally announce a settlement with the owners of the contaminated site who are paying $42 million toward a $100 million cleanup. The work involves a 1.5-mile stretch of wetlands and commercial and residential property along the Woonasquatucket River.
The cleanup includes potentially draining Allendale and Lyman Mill ponds to excavate some 156,000 cubic tons of contaminated sediment and removing and capping about 9 acres of parking lot. Contaminated soil will be sent to the state landfill or to a designated hazardous waste facility.
EDITOR'S NOTE: "Capping" contaminated sites is a popular "clean-up" option mainly because it is a lot cheaper than the alternatives. But being cheapest is far from being best. First, remember that at least some of the contaminated material is left in place. If the site was leaking into groundwater before, it will continue to do so except now it will have tons of capping material on top of it, squishing the material down and out the sides. Caps will inevitably leak and water will infiltrate through the sides. However, the site will look "clean" and for many politicians and even some residents, that's enough. -Will Collette
It’s been a long recovery for Centredale Manor. Between 1943 and the 1970s, the site went through a number of industrial uses.
The chemical maker Metro-Atlantic and the incinerator-based drum recycler New England Container released toxins and dumped dioxins into the soil and river. Harmful waste was buried onsite. Pollution from the facilities contaminated surface water, the water table, the watershed area, and water that flows along the Woonasqutucket River to Providence.
It’s been a long recovery for Centredale Manor. Between 1943 and the 1970s, the site went through a number of industrial uses.
The chemical maker Metro-Atlantic and the incinerator-based drum recycler New England Container released toxins and dumped dioxins into the soil and river. Harmful waste was buried onsite. Pollution from the facilities contaminated surface water, the water table, the watershed area, and water that flows along the Woonasqutucket River to Providence.
Mayor Charles Lombardi
recalled responding to a fire at the site as a volunteer firefighter in the
late ’70s or early ’80s and seeing steel drums launched into the air by
exploding chemicals.
“God knows what was
happening prior to that and what was being let out into the river here,”
Lombardi said.
In 1996, decades after
the pollution started and after elderly and low-income housing had been built
on top of the contaminated land, the EPA began to investigate.
To reduce the health threat to the residents living near and at the site, the first small-scale cleanup took place in 1998. In 2000, the site was designated a federal Superfund site.
To reduce the health threat to the residents living near and at the site, the first small-scale cleanup took place in 1998. In 2000, the site was designated a federal Superfund site.
A similar clean-up
project was announced in 2011, but
the owners Emhart Industries Inc. and Black & Decker Inc. and the EPA
contested the settlement for the cleanup.
In an agreement reached in July 2018, Emhart and Black & Decker agreed to pay the $42 million already spent on the cleanup and to hire contractors to remediate the site, with oversight by EPA and the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management.
In an agreement reached in July 2018, Emhart and Black & Decker agreed to pay the $42 million already spent on the cleanup and to hire contractors to remediate the site, with oversight by EPA and the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management.
The cleanup is expected
to take five to six years. A fence around the ponds has restricted public
access for decades. A goal of the cleanup is to reopen the water to fishing and
swimming.
When asked how his
experience at Dow helps him with cleanups such as the Centredale site, Deziel
said it “is just another part of understanding how the government works. How it
functions in Washington and doesn't function in Washington. It gives me context
for how we work and the best paths forward.”
Regarding the EPA’s
deregulation of methane and auto emissions and removing restrictions on harmful
chemicals and pesticides, Deziel said he can’t speak to what is happening in
Washington, D.C.
“The regional job
shouldn't be political,” he said. “It’s about protecting the environment and
the communities.”
As a New Hampshire
native, Deziel said the job is “to give back and give some public service.”
Deziel said he couldn’t
yet say if addressing the climate crisis is a priority. “This is my first week.
I’m still getting right on those issues.”
Deziel replaces
Alexandra Dapolito Dunn who left the EPA Region 1 job to run EPA’s chemical and
pollution office after just nine months in Region 1.