WESTFIELD – The environmental remediation at the former gas manufacturing plant (MGP) on Sackett Street is in the final stages, but a new Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) requirement will add more than $100,000 in unanticipated testing expenses.
Andrew Banas, the Westfield Gas & Electric chief business officer who has headed the MGP remediation effort since 1989, said last night to the Municipal Light Board, that the department was preparing its final report to the DEP when its consultant discovered that additional analytical work would be required.
“The DEP regulations changed before the department submitted its final report,” Banas said. “If we had submitted the report without completing this one section of additional borings and soil analysis, the DEP would have reject the report.”
“I’m not overly concerned that we will hit a problem, but we need to dot all of our ‘i’s to submit this report to the state,” Banas said.
The consultant identified a section of the Westfield River Levee next to the former plant, where coal was “cracked” to produce natural gas, that the city has identified for future recreational use, most likely an extension of the Columbia Greenway rail trail, located on the former railroad track adjacent to the MGP property.
“The city is looking again at developing that area for recreational purposes,” Banas said. “I thought I was done with the project. I’ve been doing it since the late 1980s.”
The DEP modification to its regulatory requirements means that the municipal utility will need to invest $117,200, which was not included in the current fiscal budget, to drill borings and take core and soil samples for soil chemistry analysis.
Banas said the new data is required for Human Health Risk assessment. The original assessment, based on soil analysis performed between 1990 and 2002 was accepted by the state in 2001, but is now considered obsolete under the regulations revised on April 3, 2006. The new Massachusetts Contingency Plan (MCP, 310 CMR 40.0900) requires new analytical methods for soil and ground water assessment protocols.
“Due to the accessibility of the area by the public, it was determined that the DEP would require additional soil sampling and analysis at the top of the (levee),” Banas said. “Once the Method 3 Risk Assessment is completed, the final closure report will be submitted (and) the site will have reached the end of active remediation. Only groundwater and surface water monitoring will be required.”
Banas said that the bore drilling would be initiated this month to obtain the soil for further testing.
