• Concern over Casella landfill continues in Southbridge,Charlton, Sturbridge

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  By Brian Lee
  Telegram & Gazette Staff
  

  
  Posted Nov. 26, 2015 at 6:28 PM
  Updated at 12:12 PM
  
  
  

  Controversy concerning the Southbridge landfill persists, most recently because of the presence of contaminants in nearby residential wells in Charlton.

  The landfill's operator, Casella, and the Southbridge health director have each said that the landfill is not the source.

  Debate could grow hotter during a public forum to be held by the Sturbridge Board of Health 6:30 p.m. Monday at Sturbridge Town Hall.

  The meeting aims to discuss “the danger the Southbridge landfill and its proposed expansion pose” to Southbridge, Sturbridge and Charlton.

  The Southbridge landfill is in proximity to Charlton and Sturbridge.

  According to a statement by the town of Sturbridge, Casella has requested permission to expand the landfill’s disposal area by more than 32 acres by building new landfill cells atop full, closed landfill cells, and building new landfill cells on undeveloped land. This would result in 4.4 million additional tons of waste buried in Southbridge and Charlton during the next 11 years, Sturbridge officials said.

  The Sturbridge statement urges attendance from residents and town officials from all three communities, as well as representatives from the Department of Environmental Protection and other state agencies.

  The itinerary calls for Sturbridge Board of Health Chairwoman Linda Cocalis to summarize the history of odor and other nuisances, and the range of chemicals found in gas, surface water, groundwater and home well testing.

  Kirstie L. Pecci, staff attorney at MASSPIRG in Boston, will present an overview of Casella’s proposal, and the procedure required to expand the site.

  In an interview, Ms. Pecci said residents asked the board to hold a forum because "there wasn’t any way for citizens from Southbridge, Sturbridge and Charlton to get together and ask officials from each community and the state questions about what was happening with the landfill.

  Since that time, she said, detection of harmful contaminants in home wells in Charlton "has put into focus the landfill contamination - which we’ve all known was inevitable - has begun to leak from the landfill."

  In a statement, John Farese, general manager of the Southbridge landfill, said:

  "As a member of the community, we will be responsive to any questions that arise at that meeting as we always are, and hope that the discussion focuses on the public health protections offered by the state’s strict regulation of landfills and the science and data behind the safe operation of the Southbridge landfill in particular. As responsible stewards of the environment, Casella has been and will continue to operate the Southbridge landfill with the greatest commitment to the well-being of our neighbors and in full compliance with the state’s environmental protection laws and regulations."

  An "executive summary" provided by a Casella spokesman asserted that several independent and consistent lines of evidence using data from the landfill and a well-water testing program suggest 1,4-dioxane and CVOC detections in residential wells along H. Foote Road in Charlton do not appear related to the landfill.

  The Casella statement said the company will take additional steps in the coming months to further demonstrate that the contamination is not related to the landfill.
  
  

  “Although the testing data indicates that the landfill is not the source of contamination in private wells, Casella continues to work cooperatively with all interested parties and agencies to gather additional data and work with residents as a good neighbor,” the Casella statement said.

  Casella has managed and operated the facility, one of three landfills in the state with remaining capacity to accept municipal solid waste, in a public-private partnership since 2004.

  Since 2002, a voluntary program has called for households within one-half mile of the landfill to have their wells sampled once every three years. The well water is tested for contaminants such as volatile organic compounds and chlorinated volatile organic compounds.

  In September 2014, two Charlton houses in the sampling program had 1,4-dioxane above drinking water guidelines. The U.S. EPA classifies 1,4-dioxane as a probable human carcinogen.

  Casella provided the households with drinking water.

  In September, three additional homes had 1,4-dioxane above drinking water guidelines and one home had 1,4-dioxane and CVOCs, including trichloroethylene, or TCE, above drinking water standards.

  As a result, the DEP required additional households within a 500-foot radius of homes with detections of VOCs and CVOCs to be sampled.

  Based on detections of TCE, indoor air was sampled in two residences on H. Foote Road in Charlton in October.

  At one of the homes, TCE was below state drinking water standard from its well and TCE was not detected in the indoor air sampling at that location, Casella said.

  In the home where TCE was greater than the drinking water standard, TCE was detected at concentrations "well below" DEP published values, Casella said. But Casella said it purchased a water treatment system for that home, to mitigate exposure to CVOCs during showering. It was installed on Nov. 13.

  In all, 45 residential wells have been sampled since September.

  Ms. Pecci, the MASSPIRG official who resides on McGilpin Road in Sturbridge near the landfill, points out that private wells haven't been tested in nearby homes in the other two communities.

  She said the groundwater and well water issue will be a hearing topic, but the meeting was planned "before that situation had made itself known."

  "The focus is going to be any concerns folks have about the landfill, and also making sure that citizens understand the paradigm we are working within, which is, we have a dangerous facility that is definitely going to leak and as a result we need to take steps to protect ourselves. We need to make sure Casella is paying to remediate this so that it doesn’t end up on the backs of the taxpayers of the Tri-Community area."

  Contact Brian Lee at brian.lee@telegram.com. Follow him on Twitter at @BLeeTG.

  
  

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  • After toxins detected in wells, residents near Southbridge landfill demand answers from Charlton officials

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    By Debbie LaPlaca
    Correspondent

    
    Posted Nov. 10, 2015 at 9:33 PM
    Updated Nov 11, 2015 at 11:03 AM
    
    
    

    CHARLTON – One week after Casella Waste Systems told a crowded Board of Health meeting that 21 residential wells near the Southbridge landfill tested positive for a toxic chemical, residents filled the health board office and demanded answers to their concerns.

    At the Nov. 3 meeting, Casella identified home wells within 500 feet of the landfill where probable human carcinogen 1,4-dioxane was detected during routine testing.

    Four of the homes on H Foote Road contained 1,4-dioxane greater than the state drinking water guidelines of 0.3 micrograms per liter, or 3 parts per billion.

    Two of the four wells are also contaminated with trichloroethylene, or TCE. One was below the state limit of 5 parts per billion and the other exceeded the limit at 12 parts per billion.

    Casella is supplying bottled water to those homes.

    Several H Foote Road residents at the Nov. 3 meeting asked if it was safe to shower and eat from dishes washed in their well water.

    Casella consultant Nicole D. Roy, geologist for Sanborn, Head & Associates said those questions would be answered in a risk assessment report expected to be completed in a few days.

    At the health board meeting Tuesday, several residents repeated the questions and demanded answers.

    “We as a board is going to try to get answers. We’re going to keep pushing,” board member Nelson Burlingame said. “We wish we could tell you more; we’re telling you everything we know.”

    The health board, he said, will meet next week and every week thereafter until the matter is resolved.

    Minutes later, in a selectmen’s meeting down the hall, the landfill discussion continued.

    The Sturbridge Board of Health last week discussed concerns about the contaminated wells in neighboring Charlton, as well as the proposed expansion of the landfill near the town line.

    Town Administrator Robin L. Craver shared with selectmen Tuesday letters the Sturbridge Town Administrator and health board wrote to Secretary Matthew Beaton of the state Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs regarding the landfill, their concerns, and a request for bond protection.

    Included was a letter written by state Sen. Anne M. Gobi, D-Spencer, to Mr. Beaton echoing the Sturbridge officials’ concerns and asked to discuss bond protection, similar to mitigation granted to communities abutting casinos.

    “My first priority is protecting the town and its residents, and if bond protection is a possibility, I would like to explore that option,” Ms. Gobi wrote.

    The Charlton selectmen voted to also write Secretary Beaton with their well contamination concerns and to support the suggested bond protection.

    Southbridge landfill operator Casella has been testing about 45 residential wells within a half mile of the landfill.

    The recent test findings have led to a DEP order to test wells within 500 feet of all wells found to have contaminates.

    The new testing includes more than 25 homes on H Foote Road, Berry Corner Road and Eleanor Court.

    Landfill site manager Tracy Markham told the board and residents at the Nov. 3 meeting the scientific data collected demonstrates the landfill is not the source of the well contamination.

    Edmund J. Coletta, DEP spokesman, said Monday the DEP is reviewing all data collected in its effort to name the responsible party.

    The Charlton health board has hired Gary E. Magnuson, of CMG Environmental to provide technical assistance in navigating the well water issues.