One of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Superfund Sites the New England District restored has recently been taken off their National Priorities List (NPL).
The Hatheway & Patterson Superfund Site, located in Mansfield and Foxborough, Massachusetts was taken off the list during an announcement March 15. “Deleting Hatheway & Patterson from the NPL is an exciting moment, marking the completion of many years of cleanup work and returning the site to the towns for future planning,” said EPA Regional Administrator Alexandra Dunn during the announcement.
The Hatheway & Patterson Site was a 40-acre former wood treatment facility. When the company went bankrupt in 1993, it left the soil on the site contaminated with chemicals that included dioxin, pentachlorophenol, arsenic and organic solvents.
The EPA asked for the New England District’s assistance in completing a remedial action that through excavation, offsite disposal and on-site cap construction, would clean up the site. Work included excavating 43,500 tons of contaminated soil and shipping it off-site to a hazardous waste landfill.
According to the EPA, hazardous material within approximately two acres of the site located in Foxborough were consolidated and placed under an asphalt cap. Long-term monitoring of groundwater, surface water, and fish tissue were performed regularly. In addition, operation and maintenance of remedial components including the cap was reviewed together with monitoring data during 5-year reviews to determine whether the cleanup was effective. Work began in August 2009 and completed in September 2010. Sevenson Environmental of Niagara Falls, New York, served as contractor on the project.
New England district’s Hatheway & Patterson Superfund Cleanup Team received the 2011 National Notable Achievement Award for Superfund Reuse/Revitalization for Region 1 (New England). The team also included members of EPA Region 1 and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
EPA proposed to delete the site from the NPL on December 2017. After a 30-day comment period, the agency determined the comments did not affect EPA’s determination to remove the site.
Now that the site has been taken off the list, the property can be reused by the towns. “The cleanup of the Hatheway & Patterson Site means the return of this property to productive use, the surrounding environment restored and the nearby neighborhood protected,” said Massachusetts DEP Commissioner Martin Suuberg.
Portions of the site are already being reused by the towns, according to the EPA. In Foxborough, a 119-space commuter parking lot is located on part of the site, which serves the town’s commuter rail station. The town of Mansfield also uses part of the site for emergency vehicle storage and office space.