Source: http://www.telegram.com, August 20, 2016
By: Cyrus Moulton
Worcester Regional Transit Authority Administrator Jonathan E. Church said a project to excavate and dispose of contaminated soil at the site of the new maintenance facility will be completed next week, even as a new incident of contamination comes to light.
Mr. Church told the WRTA board Thursday that workers recently discovered a pipe containing and leaking coal tar. They believe the pipe is connected to a tank located primarily on the adjacent property owned by Eversource but have not removed the pipe at this point, Mr. Church said.
According to the Department of Environmental Protection, Eversource and the WRTA, the extent of the contamination is unknown.
The incident is the latest of several discoveries that the Quinsigamond Avenue site is more contaminated than previously believed.
The WRTA property and an adjacent property owned by Eversource Energy were the former site of a plant built around 1860 that made gas from coal. NSTAR, now Eversource, sold 11 of the 17 acres to the WRTA in 2014 for $1.95 million, with both sides aware that the site was contaminated from the coal gasification process.Early cleanup cost estimates ranged from $1 million to $2 million, but they quickly grew to $8 million, $11 million and then $15 million. The state gave the WRTA $16.2 million early last year to clean up the site. But in October, workers discovered more hazardous material and requested and were granted an additional $3 million.
The last of this previously identified material has been dug up and just 2,000 tons of the material remain to be shipped for disposal by the end of next week, Mr. Church told the advisory board.
But he said Eversource and WRTA disagreed on the cleanup of the newly found material.
Mr. Church said Eversource originally wanted to pump out the tank to which the pipe is presumably connected, while the WRTA wanted the tank fully removed. Eversource spokesman Michael Durand said Thursday the utility planned to remove the tank, 90 percent of which he said was on the utility’s land, but disagreed with the WRTA about who was responsible for cleaning up the leaked materials. The utility and WRTA have previously disputed responsibility for contamination at the WRTA site.
“We believe that the language of the purchase and sale agreement is very clear that it is our responsibility to remove the tank partially on their property, but it is their responsibility to remove any contents of that tank that is on their property,” Mr. Durand said.
The DEP said it was committed to helping both parties.
But all parties stressed there is a lot that is unknown at this point, including the extent of the leaked material, whether the tank is even connected to the pipe, how much material is in the tank, and any cost to clean up.
Eversource and the WRTA plan to meet next week.