Press Release  Billerica Company Resolves Claims of Illegal Dumping of Construction Waste at Methuen Site

Boston — A Billerica-based general contracting and excavating business will pay as much as $152,400 to settle allegations of illegal dumping of construction and demolition waste at an unpermitted site in Methuen, Attorney General Maura Healey announced today.

According to the complaint, entered today along with the consent judgment in Suffolk Superior Court, Mystic Motor Transportation Co., Inc., allegedly violated the state’s solid waste management laws by dumping 185 loads of concrete, bricks and other construction and demolition waste debris between September 2007 and July 2008 at an unlawful dump in Methuen. 

“This company is one of several our office has gone after for illegal dumping at this unlawful site in violation of state regulations designed to protect our environment,” said AG Healey. “We are pleased this settlement will help fund much-needed cleanup and continue to hold businesses accountable for breaking our solid waste laws.”

According to the complaint, Thomas Battye, the former owner of the Methuen dump site on Old Ferry Road, never applied for or received the site assignment from the Methuen Board of Health needed to operate a solid waste facility there, and did not receive the necessary solid waste management facility permit from the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP). Battye passed away in November 2015.

“Illegal dumping is a blight on our communities, so the Commonwealth has protective regulations concerning the proper disposal of solid waste,” said MassDEP Commissioner Martin Suuberg. “Violations will result in the state pursuing those cases with enforcement and fines. We are pleased that this settlement will direct penalty funds towards environmental restoration.”

Under the terms of the consent judgment, Mystic Motor will pay the Commonwealth as much as $152,400, with up to $5,000 being paid as a civil penalty and $147,400 being paid into a special fund established by the state to help with the cost of site evaluation and cleanup work at the Battye site. If Mystic Motor fully complies with all of the state’s solid waste laws during the three-year period following entry of judgment, and makes the payments required under the judgment during that time, the amount of $50,000 will be waived. 

MassDEP inspections in 2008 revealed vast amounts of construction debris containing concrete, asphalt, stone, brick and other waste materials had been dumped at the site. Battye was the subject of a separate action brought by the Commonwealth related to solid waste violations at the Methuen site. In December 2013, Dynamic Waste Systems, Inc., agreed to pay more than $93,000 to settle claims that it illegally dumped multiple loads of construction and demolition waste at the site. Last year, W.L. French Excavating Corp. paid $62,500 and Stockbridge Corp. agreed to pay up to $50,000 to the state to settle similar claims. In February 2016 Mattuchio Construction Co. was responsible for paying $72,000, and in June 2016 NASDI, LLC, and Gigs, LLC, were responsible for paying $275,000 and $25,000 respectively to the state to settle such claims.  

Assistant Attorney General Andrew Goldberg of AG Healey’s Environmental Protection Division handled the case, with assistance from MassDEP Environmental Analysts Mark Fairbrother, John Macauley, and Elizabeth Sabounjian, and MassDEP attorney Colleen McConnell, all from MassDEP’s Northeast Regional Office.

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