EPA discloses plans for $40M cleanup of former riverside dump

But those responsible for the cost contend there's a better way to do it

CUMBERLAND - A $40 million action plan to cap and reclaim 74 acres of polluted land along the Blackstone River is suddenly gaining traction after years of behind-the-scenes investigation and reports.

Unveiled in August by the federal Environmental Protection Agency to a community largely on vacation is a detail-filled survey of the affected land and what it will take to restore it for recreational use.

It was Joseph Marzalkowski, beginning in the 1950s, who operated the licensed and commercial J.M. Mills landfill along the river behind what is today's Stop & Shop.

And while 21st-century residents celebrate the river as a place to jog and ride bikes, paddle and - someday - fish and swim, 60 years ago heaping waste along its banks was an unremarkable extension of pollution already freely discharged by upstream industries.

Even into the 1980s part of the land was used by Cumberland traffic hauler Michael Nunes as a waste transfer station.

Although closed down in the early 1980s, the resulting pollution was so bad that the entire dump was declared part of the Peterson-Puritan Superfund Site in 1983, a federal designation of the 1980s coined to identify America's hazardous waste sites. There are 72 in Rhode Island.

On the hook for the cost are more than 100 companies, or their successors, who used the dump.

The end result, says the EPA, will be contamination either cleaned up or contained under a thick plastic-like cap.

EPA officials shared plans with the public in two August meetings, and may be holding a third after an outcry over the timetable that seemed to unfairly compress the report and comment period.

The deadline for public comment has already been extended 60 days until Nov. 9.

The project lurched forward so suddenly this summer that state Sen. Ryan Pearson, who represents this area, said he's concerned that not enough residents realize what's happening.

Nearby residents, including those in the Berkeley Commons condominium complex, he says, may have no idea about the dirt and noise that may be coming their way for months when construction equipment hits the site and materials are moved onsite and offsite.

Also, he notes there are competing proposed plans for accomplishing the goals of this project, and he wants more residents of Cumberland, as well as Lincoln, to understand the options and weigh in on the decision making.

He's one of several asking for that third public hearing, which he says he hopes comes after residents are better informed.

Information from the EPA, which numbers hundreds of pages, includes details never before released about the scope and cost of the three-parcel cleanup project that make up what the agency calls Operable Unit 2, or the second phase of the 500-acre Peterson-Puritan Superfund Site.

The first, OU 1, is focused on the Martin Street area contamination attributed to the former Peterson-Puritan company and others in that area. The area is constantly monitored following successful remediation work in the 1990s, according to EPA reports.

Attention now shifts to the three parcels that make up the 74 acres of Operable Unit 2 - the J.M. Mills Landfill, the Nunes Parcel, and an island between the two areas called the Unnamed Island.

In 1987, the widow of Joseph Marzalkowski sold 10 acres, now known as the Nunes Parcel, to Michael John Realty Inc., Michael and John Nunes, for a waste disposal company. It operated until 2003.

Southwest and across the river channel from the landfill is the 28-acre Unnamed Island in the Blackstone River that was also used for waste. Soils from the island were excavated and provided daily cover materials. The resulting ponds flood at time of high flow and are an aquatic habitat.

Today, these areas "are identified as contributing to groundwater contamination and leading to the continued release and further migration of hazardous substances to the flood plain soils and pond sediments," said an EPA report.

Years after the dumping was halted, there's still evidence, says the EPA, of "waste and hazardous substances" that include metals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, pesticides, PCBs, dioxin, semi-volatile organic compounds and volatile organic compounds.

"Mixed waste volumes" include 2.1 million cubic yards at the landfill, 56,000 cubic yards at the Nunes Parcel and 39,500 to 44,000 cubic yards at the Unnamed Island.

The overall remediation plan is to design and construct a cap on both the landfill and Nunes parcel, remove buildings and structures on the Nunes parcel, consolidate associated debris fields and contaminated soils under the cap, restore the riverbank, and implement long-term monitoring of groundwater, surface water, sediment and performance monitoring for cap effectiveness.

The costs break down like this:

The J.M. Mills Landfill cap is pegged at $21.5 million.

The Nunes Parcel cleanup, including restoring habitats and long-term monitoring is estimated at $6.0 million, and the Unnamed Island excavation of waste deposits, estimated at 40,000 cubic yards, and restoration of habitat, is expected to run $6.13 million.

Additionally, dealing with contamination in sediment in ponds at the Unnamed Island will run $5.8 million, says the EPA.

And finally, establishing a groundwater compliance boundary around the area will take $671,000.

The total cost is $40.3 million.

South of the Unnamed Island is the Pratt Dam that's an access point to the Unnamed Island.

During years of study, Cumberland life has continued around the site.

A major condominium project continues to go up, the Blackstone River Bikeway was built and crosses the old Pratt Dam on the western tip of the Nunes Parcel, and, of course, the Providence & Worcester Railroad Company tracks run near the project property.

Just last week the Town Council approved a small strip mall project that includes land bordering the Superfund Site near the McDonald's.

Operable Site II contamination was caused by the dumping of hazardous waste by dozens of companies. They, or their successors, referred to PRPs in EPA lingo, or "possible responsible parties," are now on the hook for covering the clean-up cost.

Speaking as a consortium, the PRPs are proposing a cheaper, less dramatic solution in the range of $25 million to $30 million, according to a single spokesman, David Preston, of the New Harbor Group in Providence.

They are particularly critical of high mounds of the largely barren, capped earth that the EPA plan calls for.

Preston says the PRPs may bear varying degrees of responsibility, but assigning an assessment to each has yet to be worked out.

The list of more than 100, including 24 in Rhode Island, is in alphabetical order rather than by weight of responsibility. And the group members are still changing, he said, as new evidence is uncovered.

Currently, the Rhode Island firms are Acme Service, Johnston; ACS Industries, Woonsocket; Adams Drug Co., Woonsocket; American Insulated Wire Corp., Pawtucket; A.T. Cross, Lincoln; Benny's Inc., Esmond; Blackstone Valley Electric, Denver; Broadway Tire, Pawtucket; Hasbro, Pawtucket; Hindley Manufacturing, Cumberland; J.H. Lynch & Sons, Cumberland; Landry & Martin Oil Co., Pawtucket; Mainline Paint Mft. Co., Pawtucket; Mandeville Signs, Lincoln; Linda Marzalkowski, Naples, Fla.; Michael John Realty (Nunes), Seekonk; Microfibres, Pawtucket; Nunes Disposal, Cumberland; Nyman Manufacturing, East Providence; Teknor Apex, Pawtucket; Truex Inc., Pawtucket.

Sketches of the outcome of the PRPs' alternate plan depict none of the treeless mounds of the EPA plan, but rather natural settings on the same level as the river.

And while their plan is cheaper, Preston says the goal "is a safe, effective, environmentally responsible solution that respects the river and allows the opportunity for recreational and other uses."

He added, "To pay more for a significantly less desirable result that is no more safe doesn't seem to make sense."

A third party weighing in on the talks is the Blackstone River Watershed Council. It received a grant in 2010 to secure experts and act as an independent outside consult.