Source: http://www.masslive.com, December 27, 2015
By: Mary Serreze
The owners of a former mill at 188 Pleasant St. have been advised by state environmental regulators to take immediate action after polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were found in soil samples collected from a stained area behind the building’s loading dock.
The 48,726 square-foot, three-story brick building, built around 1900, was purchased in 2003 by Richard E. Alcorn and Kathleen Wang of Amherst under the business name Three Kingdoms, LLC.
A Nov. 16 letter from the Mass. Dept. of Environmental Protection to Alcorn references an “urgent legal matter” and recommends the prompt removal and proper disposal of 50 yards of PCB contaminated soil.
The release was discovered in November after a contractor found an oily patch near the building’s loading dock. Three Kingdoms retained consultants to take soil samples. The samples revealed the presence of PCBs in concentrations that may pose an “imminent hazard.” The release was reported to MassDEP on Nov. 13 by the consulting firm O’Reilly, Talbot & Okun Associates.
Electrical transformers were once on site and may have been the source of the contamination, according to records filed with MassDEP. The manufacture of PCBs, formerly used in many industrial applications, was banned nationwide in 1979. PCBs persist in the environment, enter the food chain, and are a known carcinogen, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency.
Under state law, the owner of a property is generally held responsible for cleanup costs, even if the spill is not his or her fault. Owners may pursue claims against third parties for damages, but such claims may be subject to a statute of limitations.
Alcorn must file paperwork relevant to the immediate cleanup plan within 120 days or face a $1,470 fine.
Alcorn’s building, home of the former Easthampton Woodworks, is one of several commercial properties known collectively as the Pleasant Street mills. The area behind the mill complex has been undergoing a major infrastructure and design upgrade funded by $7.25 million in state grants. The most recent work involved earth-moving activities to build a new, paved parking lot.
Alcorn is co-founder and executive director of the Pioneer Valley Chinese Immersion Charter School in Hadley, and his wife, Kathleen Wang, serves as the school’s principal. Alcorn is also listed in 2014 corporate records as sole owner of Easthampton Woodworks, even though the business appears to have been closed for some time.
At least one other spill was encountered during the construction of the parking lot behind the Pleasant Street mills. A historic fuel oil release was found behind the former Paragon Rubber at 150 Pleasant Street, MassDEP records show. The area is owned by Michael Michon, who owns the adjacent Mill 180. Michon had 166 tons of soil removed and shipped for proper disposal, and the matter was resolved with MassDEP by August of 2015.