The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and 13 “potentially responsible parties” involved with groundwater contamination at the Landfill and Resource Recovery Inc. Superfund site in North Smithfield, R.I., have reached a proposed settlement.
The settlement will allow the EPA’s groundwater cleanup plan for the site to proceed as companies responsible for the contamination will pay for cleanup, a Nov. 9 news release said.
“The groundwater cleanup will address volatile organic compounds, metals, 1,4-dioxane, PFOA (perfluorooctanoic acid) and PFOS (perfluorooctane sulfonic acid) contamination related to the L&RR site,” the release said. “The settlement also includes performance of a contingency remedy, if EPA determines the selected remedy will not meet cleanup levels in a reasonable time period.”
Located on Oxford Road in North Smithfield, the 28-acre Landfill and Resource Recovery site is an inactive landfill that initially was a sand and gravel operation, the release said. The landfill had accepted residential, commercial and industrial wastes. The landfill stopped operation in January 1985. A landfill remedy was completed in 1995, “and monitoring and operation and maintenance activities are on-going.”
“This settlement is great news for the people of North Smithfield, and for taxpayers everywhere,” EPA New England Regional Administrator David Cash said in the release. “Making meaningful progress to ensure Superfund sites like this one get cleaned up is a huge benefit for communities. Many communities where Superfund sites are located have suffered from disproportionate pollution burdens, so EPA is especially pleased that this settlement will expedite work in North Smithfield.”
“This settlement results from the shared regulatory vigilance of EPA Region I and DEM, will expedite clean-up work to protect public health and the environment in North Smithfield, and holds polluters accountable for the consequences of their actions,” Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management Director Terry Gray said in the release. “We appreciate EPA's partnership in achieving these critical goals.”
The 13 potentially responsible parties participating in the agreement, according to the release, are Aerosols Danville Inc., Clean Harbors of Braintree Inc., Avnet Inc., Waste Management of Massachusetts Inc., Bixby International Corporation, Waste Management of Rhode Island Inc., Corning Incorporated, Electric Boat Corporation, Life Technologies Corporation, NSTAR Electric Company, OCG Microelectronics Materials Inc., Ballantyne Legacy Holdings LLC and Stanley Black & Decker Inc.
