Looking for TFTPTF Members in MA & IA

MA Members- From LagoonVet: I’m looking for former Marines living in Massachusetts who are affected by the contaminated water at Lejeune. I was stationed aboard Lejeune from 85 to 89. I lived in Tarawa Terrace [...] No related posts.]]> We are re-posting here with permission from The Few, The Proud, The Forgotten:

Looking for TFTPTF Members in MA & IA

MA Members- From LagoonVet: I’m looking for former Marines living in Massachusetts who are affected by the contaminated water at Lejeune. I was stationed aboard Lejeune from 85 to 89. I lived in Tarawa Terrace base housing from 1985 to 1986. I remember several families from Mass. that lived in the same area I lived in, so I know you’re out there. We need to get together to pressure our Congressional delegates to act on our behalf. Together we stand and they know it. If there are 2,180 former Marines registered from Massachusetts then we need to form it up and sound off. Let’s begin the contact process and start communication by posting on the discussion board first then we can take it from there. We need to do this now. Please see my thread on TFTPTF http://tftptf.com/v-web/bulletin/bb/viewtopic.php?t=422 or send me an email through the website. -LagoonVet

IA Members- From Terri & Jon: We are looking for any Marines or their families that live in Iowa. Please contact one of the following individuals: Terri Huntley at tllhuntley@yahoo.com or Jon Tory at faba2th@msn.com. Please see our thread on the TFTPTF bulletin board at http://tftptf.com/v-web/bulletin/bb/viewtopic.php?t=421 -Terri & Jon

Thanks,

Andrea Byron

Website Administrator

The Few, The Proud, The Forgotten

www.tftptf.com

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Release date: 01/25/2008

Contact Information: David Deegan, (617) 918-1017

(Boston, Mass. – Jan. 25, 2008) – The U.S. District Court in Massachusetts on January 9 entered a settlement agreement (Consent Decree) for the 850 acre Groveland Wells Nos. 1 and 2 Superfund site in Groveland, Mass [see map]. Settling with the United States, [...] No related posts.]]> According to EPA’s recent press release:

Release date: 01/25/2008

Contact Information: David Deegan, (617) 918-1017

(Boston, Mass. – Jan. 25, 2008) – The U.S. District Court in Massachusetts on January 9 entered a settlement agreement (Consent Decree) for the 850 acre Groveland Wells Nos. 1 and 2 Superfund site in Groveland, Mass [see map].
Settling with the United States, on behalf of EPA, is Groveland Resources Corp. and Valley Manufacturing Products Co.

Under the terms of the agreement, the Settling Defendants will pay 100 percent of the Net Sale or Net Lease Proceeds in the event their property on the Site is sold or leased to reimburse the United States for costs incurred at the site. The Settling Defendants will also be required to impose certain deed restrictions or institutional controls on the Site in order to protect EPA’s cleanup actions at the site.

The Groveland Wells Site is located within a residential area in the southwestern part of the Town of Groveland. Valley Manufactured Products Co. manufactured screw products as well as metal and plastic parts from 1963 until 2001. The site is contaminated primarily with trichloroethene (TCE) which was used to clean (degrease) finished parts. TCE was released into the ground from a variety of sources including, underground storage tanks, underground disposal systems and intentional dumping. The Groveland site was added to EPA’s National Priority List in September 1983. EPA has been conducting cleanup actions at the site that address the contamination in the soil and groundwater.

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Treatment of groundwater pollution near Beverly Airport has begun and an environmental engineering company hired by the city expects the sites to be clean sometime next year.

But some residents expressed concerns about the assuring words from the engineers this week, calling for further investigations and a more extensive cleanup process at [...] No related posts.]]> The Beverly Citizen (MA) reports:

Treatment of groundwater pollution near Beverly Airport has begun and an environmental engineering company hired by the city expects the sites to be clean sometime next year.

But some residents expressed concerns about the assuring words from the engineers this week, calling for further investigations and a more extensive cleanup process at public meeting Tuesday night.

The cleanup work at the city-owned General Aviation, Nike missile and Casco Chemical sites has drawn increased public attention because Wenham Lake, the public water supply for Beverly, Salem and part of Wenham, is less than a mile to the east of the sites.

(read more)

[...]

Alliance Environmental Inc. of Cambridge took over work that had been started by Ransom Environmental Inc., a firm the city dumped after it was criticized for its work in the late 1990s.

Alliance president Richard Hittinger said the exact source of the pollution is unknown and does not appear to still be present. What is clear is that the pollutant that exceeds acceptable levels for trichloroethylene, or TCE, which likely came from degreasing operates that were conducted in the area by the military at least 50 years ago. Some of the degreasing may have even occurred outside the hangers, Hittinger said.

[...]

Hittinger said a “sparge system” has been installed to treat TCE in the ground water. That, combined with the fact that the TCE is degrading and showing very little movement, means the water supply is not threatened.

“We can confidently say the pollutants are not moving towards Wenham Lake and it is not a threat to Wenham Lake,” Hittinger said.

[...]

“The contaminants are degrading faster than it is moving,” Hittinger said. “It is a shrinking plume.”

[...]

But one attendee said another company should be brought in to do further analysis.

Rene Mary said the properties shouldn’t be declared safe until a company not connected to the Beverly city government or the Salem and Beverly Water Supply Board gets involved. She compared the situation to getting a second opinion from a doctor.

“I think we should get some unbiased opinions here,” Mary said.

(hide)

Read the full story here.

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Calling for “prompt action,” a “Notice of Responsibility” from the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection’s Emergency Response section of the Bureau of Waste Site Cleanup has been sent to Mark Saxl, owner of 25 Depot Road, who agreed to immediate measures to protect residents and employees on the site from contaminated [...] No related posts.]]> The Harvard Post (MA) reports:

Calling for “prompt action,” a “Notice of Responsibility” from the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection’s Emergency Response section of the Bureau of Waste Site Cleanup has been sent to Mark Saxl, owner of 25 Depot Road, who agreed to immediate measures to protect residents and employees on the site from contaminated water found in May sampling.

At its June 13 meeting the Board of Health reviewed the five-page document, which threatens legal action if remediation is not undertaken. According to the Massachusetts Oil and Hazards Material Release Prevention and Response Act, and the Massachusetts Contingency Plan, the owner has “potential liability for response action costs and damages.”

At issue for the owner is the rapid treatment of the chemical perchloroethylene (PCE), found in a May inspection by Saxl’s Licensed Site Professional Richard Doherty, who notified the DEP on May 12 that an “imminent hazard [IH] condition” exists on the site. The PCE concentration in a well water sample was found to be 88 parts per billion (ppb), which is more than 10 times the DEP’s acceptable level of 5 ppb.

Read more here.

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“Affordable housing is like motherhood — everyone’s for it. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t unfit mothers.”

Lynch was expressing his concern over the development of a housing project on the polluted Marshall [...] No related posts.]]> In what may be the quote of the week, John Lynch, spokesman for the Holliston-Hopkinton Action Committee told the Holliston Zoning Board of Appeals:

“Affordable housing is like motherhood — everyone’s for it. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t unfit mothers.”

Lynch was expressing his concern over the development of a housing project on the polluted Marshall Street property.

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Neighbors are pressing officials to cut down the proposed Cedar Ridge housing project because they worry the development could create new water woes in town.

Holliston-Hopkinton Action Committee members met last night with the Board of Water Commissioners to review what John Lynch said was a lack of data on where [...] No related posts.]]> Metro West Daily News (MA) reports:

Neighbors are pressing officials to cut down the proposed Cedar Ridge housing project because they worry the development could create new water woes in town.

Holliston-Hopkinton Action Committee members met last night with the Board of Water Commissioners to review what John Lynch said was a lack of data on where toxins may lie in the Marshall Street property eyed for a 200-unit development.

“The (Zoning Board of Appeals) is authorized to (order testing),” said Lynch, spokesman for the HHAC. “Why they haven’t is a reason none of us can fathom.”

But developer J. Michael Norton of Greenview Realty said water commissioners and the HHAC are against his project, and he won’t pay for a hydrogeologic soil test — to determine whether existing pollutants risk groundwater — until he gets ZBA approval.

“I don’t have to do it, I won’t do it until the town issues me a permit,” said Norton. “The studies will be done, but it will be done after a permit (is issued).”

Read more here.

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Clean Up Work and Environmental Investigations Continue at Groveland Wells Superfund Site in Mass.

Release date: 05/30/2006

Contact Information: David Deegan, 617-918-1017

(Boston, Mass. – May 30, 2006) – Beginning this month and continuing until September, EPA will be performing additional field investigations in Groveland related to the Groveland Wells No. 1 [...] No related posts.]]> The EPA Press Release says it all:

Clean Up Work and Environmental Investigations Continue at Groveland Wells Superfund Site in Mass.

Release date: 05/30/2006

Contact Information: David Deegan, 617-918-1017

(Boston, Mass. – May 30, 2006) – Beginning this month and continuing until September, EPA will be performing additional field investigations in Groveland related to the Groveland Wells No. 1 and 2 Superfund cleanup site.

Since May, 2000 EPA has operated a groundwater extraction and treatment system to address contaminated groundwater in both the shallow and deep aquifer. That ongoing work shows a continual decrease in the levels and extent of contamination of groundwater by TCE (trichloroethylene).

The field investigations and other site work taking place this summer at the former Valley Manufactured Products, Inc. (VMP) property will help EPA and the Mass. Dept. of Environmental Protection understand how much contamination remains in the soil underneath and adjacent to the VMP building, and what the best approach may be to clean up the remaining contamination source.

EPA expects to compile results from this upcoming work, along with results from past field investigations, in a report targeted for release during the Fall of 2006. Based on this work, EPA will develop recommendations on potential cleanup options for the contaminated area(s). EPA will continue to keep the public informed about the investigation work and cleanup decisions.

More information on Groveland Wells Superfund Site: (epa.gov/region1/superfund/sites/groveland)

# # #

Incidentally, we find it interesting that this site was contaminated with TCE at the same time Cheshire, CT’s public water supply TCE contamination was discovered. Both are part of EPA Region 1. Yet the Groveland wells were shut down, and Cheshire’s weren’t. We wonder what criteria EPA Region 1 used for shutting down water supply wells in the late 1970’s…

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“What’s at risk is about half the town’s water supply,” Water Commissioner Jared Adams told the Zoning Board of Appeals last night.

[...]

“It’s a major problem” to not have enough data on the Bird [...] No related posts.]]>

Town officials worry an unknown danger lurks under the Bird Property — and a proposed development could be calamitous for local drinking water.

“What’s at risk is about half the town’s water supply,” Water Commissioner Jared Adams told the Zoning Board of Appeals last night.

[...]

“It’s a major problem” to not have enough data on the Bird property pollution, said Adams.

Read more in the MetroWest Daily News (Framingham, MA)

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Neighbors battling a 200-unit housing project planned for the grounds of an old illegal dump say the proposed development threatens the town water supply.

“The more units, the more risk,” said John Lynch, a Prentice Street resident with the Holliston Hopkinton Action Committee. “I’m sure something could be developed that would not [...] No related posts.]]> The MetroWest Daily News reports:

Neighbors battling a 200-unit housing project planned for the grounds of an old illegal dump say the proposed development threatens the town water supply.

“The more units, the more risk,” said John Lynch, a Prentice Street resident with the Holliston Hopkinton Action Committee. “I’m sure something could be developed that would not pose a threat.”

The Zoning Board of Appeals will continue its hearing on the proposed Cedar Ridge Estates project tonight at 7 in the [Holliston] high school library.

But project developer J. Michael Norton of Greenview Realty said there is no significant risk to residents. “We have the facts and they have opinions,” said Norton.

Located at the 52-acre Bird property on Marshall Street, the project would include 200 housing units, a private wastewater system, plus hiking trails and tennis courts on land which once was an illegal dump.

[...]

An area of the property is contaminated with trichloroethylene, and some residents worry that chemical could be pushed into the town water supply with the use of a wastewater treatment system for the proposed project.

Officials should conduct a hydrogeologic study — assessing any risk to the water supply — before the ZBA makes a decision on the project, said Lynch.

“We think doing this without a hydrogeologic study borders on the reckless,” he said.

Read more

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