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United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
Harbor Cleanup News
New Bedford Harbor Superfund Site
EPA Cleanup Program
Harbor PCB Dredging
Enters Sixth Season
With additional funding through the 2009
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act,
EPA has begun this year's full-scale, dredging
cleanup of New Bedford harbor months
ahead of the usual schedule. EPA expects
to dredge three times as long this year and
target the harbor bottom north of Route
195. EPA officially began dredging on June
5, 2009 and expects to continue dredging
until late fall. This is EPA's sixth round of
full-scale dredging of PCB-contaminated
bottom sediment in New Bedford Harbor.
This funding will also extend next year's
dredging season to five months as well.
How does the dredging work?
Where do the PCBs go?
The dredging crews will work 12-hour
shifts, from 6 a.m. to 6 pm Monday through
Saturday.
The dredged sediment from the harbor bot-
tom is pumped directly into a floating pipeline
that is connected to the dredge, which sends
the sediment to EPA's de-sanding building
located at the end Sawyer Street in New Bed-
ford.The coarse sand, shells and debris mate-
rial are separated from the finer sediment
that has most of the PCB-contamination
attached to itThe separated coarse material
will be temporarily stored in a holding area
next to the de-sanding facility. This material
will then be transported off-site.
A submerged pipeline carries the contami-
nated silt 1.4 miles south to the dewatering
facility located at Hervey Tichon Avenue
and Herman Melville Boulevard in New
Bedford. Inside the dewatering facility, large
presses squeeze the excess water out of the
dredged sediment before it is loaded into
wrapped and sealed train cars for offsite
disposal. The PCB contaminated material
will be transported by railcar to a licensed
PCB landfill in Michigan.The excess water is
filtered and treated to very stringent water
quality levels before being released back into
the harbor. Additionally, water and air quality
monitoring will be conducted throughout the
dredging period.
Summer 2009
Looking Ahead and
Your Involvement
EPA continually needs your help and input as
the cleanup process is underway. It is impor-
tant that the communities which share New
Bedford Harbor and the abutting Buzzards Bay
are involved, informed and feel safe about the
cleanup work EPA,alongside the Massachusetts
Department of Environmental Protection, the
Chy of New Bedford and the New Bedford
Harbor Development Commission host
evening public informational meetings twice a
year in the spring and fall to provide updates
on the Harbor cleanupThe last meeting of this
scale was held on April 30th and was taped
by New Bedford's local Cable Access Studio,
and the presentations can be viewed on EPA's
Cleanup website listed below.The next meeting
is planned for the October/November 2009
timeframe, at which point EPA will be conclud-
ing the 2009 dredging season.
You ore we/come to bring your questions or
concerns directfy to our Superfund Team during
ifte last Thursday of every month. EPA hosts an
informal walk-in meeting at 10:00 a.m. at our
Sawyer Street trailers.
For more about this Superfund site's
history, past cleanup activities and progress, as
well as documents and video about the cleanup
process please visitwww.epa.gov/ne/nbh
For more information,
please contact:
U.S. EPA
Toll Free I (888)372-7341
U.S. EPA Community Involvement
Jeanethe Falvey, ext. 8-1020
falvey.jeanethe@epa.gov
U.S. EPA Project Managers
Dave Dickerson, ext. 8-1329
dickerson.dave@epa.gov
Elaine Stanley, ext. 8-1332
stanley.elaineT@epa.gov
MassDEP
Joe Coyne
(617)348-4066
joseph.coyne@state.ma.us
(above)
Governor Devo/ Patrick, EPA Administrator Lisa
Jackson and New Bedford Mayor Scott Lang celebrate
Recovery Act funding at EPA's dewanering facility
(above)
Changing bag fitters at water treatment plant
While seafood is part of a healthy diet;
fish, quahogs and lobsters from the
Acushnet River and New Bedford Harbor
contain high levels of PCBs. Illness and
harm to your health could result if eaten
regularly, especially to pregnant women
and those of childbearing age. Please take
caution and notice of the restrictions on
fishing and lobstering that have been in
place since 1979.
"
continued >
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New Bedford Harbor Superfund Cleanup
Areas Remediated through 2008
Per 1998 ROD
Legend
2009 Clean up areas
Areas partially or fully remediated as of 11/1/08
Areas to be dredged per 1998 ROD
Created on 6/24/2009. Map Tracker ID: 6174.
Image from DigitalGlobe dated 4/1/2007.
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Summer 2009
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