Patrick Administration Announces $5M in Recovery Act Funding Targeted To Cleanup Shpack Superfund Landfill in Norton

As part of Governor Deval Patrick's Massachusetts Recovery Plan to secure the state's economic future, the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) announced today an infusion of $5 million under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to clean up a nine-acre contaminated site, known as the Shpack Landfill, along the Norton-Attleboro town lines.

The funding will support work done by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which is performing the radiological portion of the cleanup at Shpack for the U.S. Department of Energy.  "The cleanup at Shpack has been shovel-ready for some time," said Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) Commissioner Laure Burt. "While there remains a lot of work still to be done at this site by the other parties, the news of federal assistance is a critical and welcome stimulus to the cleanup of this site, which has been on the Superfund National Priorities List since 1986."

The Army Corps of Engineers will use the $5 million for the ongoing soil excavation work, which is expected to conclude in September 2010. The Shpack Landfill straddles 7 acres is in the town of Norton and 2 acres in Attleboro. From 1946 to 1965, industrial and domestic waste - including inorganic and organic chemicals, and radioactive waste - was dumped at the site.

The Army Corps of Engineers cleanup began in September 2005. Cleanup was suspended for one year, from June 2006 to June 2007, due to lack of funding. The Army Corps of Engineers is cleaning up the radiological waste found onsite, which will be followed by a cleanup of the non-radiological contaminants. The radioactive waste at the landfill is believed to have come from Metals and Controls Inc., now known as Texas Instruments Inc., and from the local jewelry industry.

MassDEP and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have joint oversight of both the radiological and the non-radiological cleanup, which is expected to take place over the next three years. The project also includes the excavation and off-site disposal of contaminated material along with additional restoration work.  

In January 2009, a consent decree was signed by 14 parties and entered in the U.S. District Court in Boston to perform the remainder of the site-wide, non-radiological cleanup of chemical wastes and other contaminants.

That work is estimated to cost $29 million and the defendants signing the agreement include: the City of Attleboro; Avnet Inc.; Bank of America (Trustee of Lloyd G. Balfour); BASF Catalysts LLC (formerly known as Engelhard Corporation); Chevron Environmental Management Company (for itself and on behalf of Kewanee Industries Inc.); ConocoPhillips Co.; Handy & Harman; International Paper Co.; KIK Custom Products, Inc. (formerly known as CCL Custom Manufacturing Inc.); Town of Norton; Swank Inc.; Teknor Apex Co.; Texas Instruments Inc.; and Waste Management of Massachusetts Inc.

The cleanup and restoration plan at Shpack includes the following major components:
* Excavation and off-site disposal of approximately 34,000 cubic yards of soil and 1,000 cubic yards of sediment from Chartley Swamp, which exceed the radiological and chemical cleanup levels for the site.
* Following excavation, impacted wetlands will be restored or replicated and clean fill will be used to backfill and bring open areas up to grade, as necessary.
* Implementation of institutional controls to restrict future use of the property and groundwater.
* A traffic control plan will be designed to manage the increased volume of truck traffic associated with transporting contaminated material off-site. MassDEP and EPA will closely coordinate these activities with local, state and federal partners prior to beginning the cleanup.

The Army Corps of Engineers has developed a traffic control plan with input from local and state authorities, which will be used to manage truck traffic during the cleanup at the site.Investments in environmental cleanups are a part of Governor Patrick's Massachusetts Recovery Plan, which combines state, federal and, where possible, private efforts to provide immediate and long-term relief and position the Commonwealth for recovery in the following ways:
* Deliver immediate relief by investing in the road, bridge and rail projects that put people to work today and providing safety net services that sustain people who are especially vulnerable during an economic crisis;
* Build a better tomorrow through education and infrastructure investments that strengthen our economic competitiveness, prepare workers for the jobs of the future and support clean energy, broadband and technology projects that cut costs while growing the economy; and
* Reform state government by eliminating the pension and ethics loopholes that discredit the work of government and revitalize the transportation networks that have suffered from decades of neglect and inaction.

In total, the Army Corps of Engineers has received $100 million under the Recovery Act. The ACOE is conducting radioactive cleanups across the nation wherever contamination from the development of nuclear weapons through the Manhattan Project and other related programs has been identified.

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