Media Release: Toxic Dumpsites and Chemical Facilities Highlight
6th Annual Dirty Dozen Awards
For Release:
December 3, 2002, 10:00 AM
For More Information:
Katie Mae Simpson (617) 747-4374
Matthew Wilson (617) 747-4389
Boston - Toxics Action Center released the winners of its
6th Annual Dirty Dozen Awards, "honoring" twelve of the
Commonwealth's top environmental and public health threats.
This year's awards include Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound
for its objection to a wind energy project on the Cape, and Boudreau
Boat Yard in East Boston for it 16 years of being a source of pollution
to the Chelsea River.
"While many polluters pose a threat to the Commonwealth, this
year's winners deserve special recognition for the dangers they
pose to the environment and their neighbors," said Katie Mae
Simpson, a spokesperson for Toxics Action Center. "This is
one holiday list you don't want to be on."
A committee of environmental professionals, public health experts,
and worker health and safety advocates chose the awards, selected
from nominations made by residents across the state. The recipients
were selected based on the severity of the threat they pose and
the unwillingness of the polluters and government officials to adequately
address the situation.
See the list below for descriptions of this
year's winners.
A Dirty Dozen Award winner from 2000, a toxic waste site in Quincy
proposed as a site for a new high school, was halted just one hour
after it received its award.
Since 1987, Toxics Action Center has helped over 450 neighborhood
groups address toxic and environmental health problems in their
communities.
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Dirty
Dozen Awards 2002
Boudreau Boat Yard - East Boston, MA
Used by its owners as an illegal dump for solid and hazardous waste,
the Boudreau Boatyard has been an eyesore, safety hazard, public
health threat, and constant source of pollution into the Chelsea
River for the last 16 years. Four years after a raid by the City's
Environmental Strike Force uncovered asbestos, PCBs, and more than
a more than a thousand cubic yards of "solid waste," the
boatyard's owner was imprisoned for failing to complete the cleanup
of the site. Though cited by the strike team as one of the City's
most extreme cases of environmental negligence, the City is considering
a bid, made by Boudreau from his jail cell, to renew the boatyard's
operating permit as a salvage yard. Chelsea Creek Action Group is
demanding the completion of the clean up and calling upon the city
to deny Boudreau's permit request.
Proposed Asphalt Plant - Hinsdale
Residents of Hinsdale and neighboring Dalton are fighting to stop
a proposal from Cochrane Paving Company to build an asphalt plant
in the proponent's backyard a rural residential neighborhood. Citizens
Against the Asphalt Plant is concerned about the potential effect
of the plant's toxic emissions, which include formaldehyde, benzene,
and arsenic, on the health of neighborhood children and on nearby
protected areas of the Housatonic River. As the plant would operate
on a residential street, the facility would also violate local zoning
laws.
Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound - Hyannis
In 2002, Cape Wind Associates proposed the construction of the largest
renewable energy source in New England. Their 420-megawatt wind
farm off the Cape coast, would provide clean, safe, and affordable
electricity to the region. Almost immediately, the Alliance for
the Protection of Nantucket Sound was formed to oppose this plan.
Posing as environmentalists, the Alliance consists of business lobbyists
for the fossil fuel industry, past owners of polluting mining companies,
and a number of business interests on the Cape. Residents are calling
on the Alliance to stop using delay tactics and misrepresentations
to block the construction of this facility.
Suffolk County Mosquito Control - Jamaica Plain
Although restricted by the Boston Public Health Commission from
spraying pesticides to control West Nile virus, SCMC has regularly
sprayed the same toxic chemicals to control "nuisance"
mosquitoes. The pesticides used include nerve toxins and possible
human carcinogens. Neighborhood Pesticide Action Group, whose efforts
galvanized community support for the city's "No Spray"
policy for West Nile virus, is demanding that Suffolk County Mosquito
Control conform all of its mosquito control practices to the Department
of Public Health's guidelines for managing West Nile virus. The
group is also calling for an overhaul of the state's current mosquito
control system to make their practices more public health-oriented.
Proposed Crystal Motors Trucking Terminal - Lynnfield
Crystal Motors Trucking has proposed a trucking terminal that would
hold over 50 diesel trucks and operate 24 hours-a-day in a residential
area. The diesel trucks would harm the wetlands and wildlife as
well as create a public health threat with their dangerous diesel
fumes. Citizens for Lynnfield, Inc wants this trucking terminal
out of their neighborhood. Diesel exhaust contains more than 40
toxic contaminants that are known or suspected carcinogens.
Marlborough Easterly Sewage Treatment Plant - Marlborough
Excessive amounts of phosphorous discharged from this sewage treatment
plant has destroyed the Hop Brook watershed, ruined the quality
of life for nearby residents, and damaged a national historic site,
the Wayside Inn, which is annually visited by thousands of tourists.
The Marlborough Easterly Sewage Treatment Plant has been allowed
by the DEP and the EPA to operate with an outdated permit for nine
years. The Hopbrook Protection Association wants the plant shut
down until an updated permit is issued to limit phosphorus discharges
and restore the watershed.
Methuen Dumpsite - Methuen
This site at 4 Gleason Street has been an industrial site for decades.
High levels of several known carcinogens including lead, trichloroethylene,
and aromatics have contaminated groundwater and soil in the area.
Residents of the area suffer from high incidences of multiple sclerosis
and childhood brain cancer, as well as widespread environmental
contamination. Developer David Spada now is proposing to build an
assisted living community upon this contaminated site, which also
sits atop a flood plain. Residents of the area are calling on city
officials and the Department of Environmental Protection to conduct
a comprehensive assessment and clean up, before any construction
starts.
GE Hill 87 - Pittsfield
Over the past fifty years, General Electric has succeeded in contaminating
the soil and waters throughout Pittsfield with PCBs. Fifty feet
from Pittsfield's Allendale Elementary School sits one of the most
toxic sites in New England: General Electric's Hill 78. The soil
from Hill 78, dumped there by GE, contains PCBs, a known carcinogen,
60,000 times acceptable levels. The health of children attending
the school, as well as the health of nearby residents, is at risk.
To make matters worse, GE refuses to clean up the PCB contamination,
and is instead planning to "cap" the hill with more PCB-laden
material dredged from the Housatonic River. The Housatonic River
Initiative wants GE to stop the landfilling and to clean up Hill
78.
Canal Station Power Plant, Mirant Corporation - Sandwich
The second largest of the state's "Filthy Five" power
plants, the once 'grand-fathered' Canal Station is defying state
orders to comply with new clean air standards. Despite concerns
about the health impacts of its toxic emissions, the Mirant Corporation
has filed a lawsuit against the DEP to halt the state's landmark
clean air regulations, which would reduce statewide power plant's
primary pollutants of concern by 50-75%. Cape Clean Air is extremely
concerned about these toxins and heavy metals emitted by the plant,
particularly given the high rates of asthma on the Upper Cape and
the lung cancer cluster discovered in the neighborhood nearest the
power plant. The group, whose efforts helped bring about the more
stringent standards, is supporting current state efforts to counter
the plant's wrangling and defend clean air. The group is also calling
upon the incoming Governor to commit himself to upholding the landmark
regulations and holding the plant accountable for cleaning up its
toxic emissions.
Massachusetts Dental Society - Southborough
Exposure to mercury is a clear public health threat. The Massachusetts
Department of Public Health has even issued warnings against eating
fish caught in the state's waterways because of their high concentration
of mercury. Dentist offices are the single biggest source of mercury
in Massachusetts. Instead of taking common sense steps to safely
manage mercury from dentist offices, the Massachusetts Dental Society
continues to fight efforts that would require safer disposal of
mercury.
Olin Chemical -- Wilmington
Since the 1950s, a myriad of chemicals have been dumped at the current
Olin Chemical facility. These chemicals have contaminated Wilmington's
drinking water supply and are threatening the water quality of the
Aberjona and Ipswich Rivers. Although the site has been on the Commonwealth'
hazardous waste list since 1987, the company has still not conducted
a comprehensive investigation to determine the extent of the contamination
on and off site. The Wilmington/Woburn Collaboration wants a cleanup
of the site before Olin sells the site and leaves town.
Maple Meadow Landfill, Wilmington
Maple Meadow Landfill was used as Wilmington's dump during the 50s,
60s, and 70s. Despite being officially closed down by the state
in 1976, the site has only recently been ordered by DEP to be capped.
Since then, 710,000 cubic yards of soil excavated from hazardous
waste sites and contaminated soil from the Big Dig has been stockpiled
to use to cap the dump. As the dump lies over the town's drinking
waste recharge area, the Headwaters Stream Team of the Ipswich River
does not want the contaminated soil to be used as a cap and want
it removed from the property.
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