xvEPA
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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