Public landfill meeting held at BCC, Monday 3/10/14

Jo C. Goode
Herald News Staff Reporter
Posted Mar. 10, 2014 @ 8:42 pm
Updated Mar 10, 2014 at 9:01 PM

FALL RIVER — The contamination at the Fall River Industrial Park landfill poses no threat to public health, said representatives of the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection during a public meeting at Bristol Community College. Who is responsible moving forward remains to be seen.

If the city takes responsibility for the contamination, the cost to cap the site could run upward of $1.5 million, according to Mark Dakers, MassDEP’s chief of solid waste management.

City Councilor Michael Miozza — who has been leading the charge to shed light on the extent of the contamination that was recently publicized — called the meeting organized by state Rep. Carole Fiola “a good first step.”

“What I heard at the meeting is MassDEP has to determine who is responsible and they need to get all the parties at the table and work in collaboration,” Miozza said. “But I still have a lot of questions.”

Mayor Will Flanagan said he thought it was important for MassDEP to go on the record that there was no threat to public health.

“It’s also important, going forward, that Fall River play a role in the discussion of remediation at the landfill,” Flanagan said.

Republic Waste Services, the current owner of the landfill, is planning to close the facility in October. As part of the shutdown, it will need to cap about an acre of contamination at the landfill.

At issue is 7 acres of contaminated land that abuts the south side of the landfill that Republic discovered.

Dakers said the contamination is contiguous with the landfill’s contamination and with similar characteristics, making it difficult to determine who owns the waste. Contaminated groundwater has been detected at the site.

“Trying to separate what contaminates come from what is very hard and impossible to do,” Dakers said.

Philip Weinberg, MassDEP regional director, told a crowd of residents and leaders from Fall River and Freetown that, while groundwater contamination was found, the brown water flows under the landfill away from the nearby North Watuppa Pond — the city’s water supply — and does not threaten water wells in Freetown.

“This groundwater has been monitored for decades,” Weinberg said.

The landfill was once owned by the city and operated as an unlined dump going back to the 1930s until the 1970s, when the city eventually sold it to Jarabek Disposal Inc., which in turn sold it to then-owner Browning-Ferris Industries in 1986.

Jarabek Disposal could also be a party involved in the cost of capping the 7 acres.

Republic denies it is responsible for the cleanup based on a site assessment in July 2006 that identifies the contamination is primarily municipal solid waste and construction and debris waste.

A test pit showed that buried waste was from 11 to 20 feet deep and possibly deeper. Browning-Ferris Industries reported that aerial views of the landfill showed the trash was located outside the boundary of the landfill property and was dumped between 1980 to 1985. Browning-Ferris took ownership in 1986.

The city was informed of the contamination.

Dakers said the city has been involved in talks “for quite some time.”

Flanagan has said that only in January was he made aware of the contamination and the city’s possible responsibility.

Going forward, Dakers said, MassDEP will request the city, Republic and possibly Jarabek Disposal to work together to come up with a plan, saying it is impossible for one party to do it alone.

“It makes sense logistically to work together,” Dakers said.