Shoreline cleanup set to begin in New Bedford

BOSTON – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will be teaming up this month and next to excavate contaminated sediment along the shoreline at the former Aerovox Corp. plant in New Bedford, the EPA’s New England regional office said late yesterday.

The effort, expected to take six to eight weeks, is part of the ongoing cleanup of New Bedford Harbor. The area to be excavated extends along the shoreline, and about 100 feet into the Acushnet River, in a region where the soil is known to contain high levels of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and solvents.

“The cleanup process will be fully protective of the health of nearby residents,” the EPA said. Crews in the work zone will wear protective clothing and breathe supplied air, because of their proximity to the contaminated material.

Sediment from the site, once excavated, will be stabilized with Portland cement then transplanted to the agency’s Sawyer Street facility for temporary storage.

Temporary docks are now being constructed at the Aerovox site, to allow excavation equipment to access the targeted area, the EPA said.

The sediment removed from the waterfront will immediately be placed in water-tight containers. As those containers become half-full, they will be moved to a temporary on-site enclosure, where the sediment will be mixed with Portland cement to stabilize it.

Negative pressure will be maintained in the enclosure during the mixing process, to allow the EPA to collect and treat any gases that are released, the agency said.

Once the concrete sets, the stabilized and hardened materials will remain in the sealed containers as they are transported to the EPA’s Sawyer Street facility for temporary storage.

The agency “does not expect any negative impacts to the air quality of surrounding neighborhoods,” the EPA said. But, “for routine precaution and for the nearby communities to be assured of their safety,” it will establish air-monitoring stations within the work area; at the western edge of the Aerovox plant, along Belleville Avenue; and at a downwind site that may shift with wind conditions.

The former Aerovox property, at 740 Belleville Ave., “consists of a 450,000-square-foot former manufacturing building located on approximately 11 acres of industrial-zoned land abutting the Acushnet River,” the EPA said on a Web page dedicated to the site.

From about 1940 to 1977, PCBs “were used at the facility in the manufacture of electrical capacitors and transformers,” the agency added. “As a result of this manufacturing history, soils and groundwater at the site as well as the building itself are heavily contaminated with PCBs. This facility is considered one of the major sources of historic PCB contamination to New Bedford Harbor.”

Additional information about the New Bedford Harbor cleanup is available from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s District 1 (New England) office in Boston at epa.gov/ne/nbh. Information about PCBs and other pollutants is also available from the EPA.