SEPA
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Office of Emergency and
Remedial Response
(5201 G)
July 2000
Superfund Redevelopment
DSIrs /o	New Bedford Harbor
1IIUL&	New Bedford, MA
EPA's Superfund Redevelopment Initiative (SRI) is a nationally coordinated effort to facilitate the return of Superfund
sites to productive use by selecting response actions consistent with anticipated use. The SRI Pilots are intended to
help local governments enhance their involvement in the Superfund decision-making process by assisting EPA in
predicting future land uses for Superfund sites. Under the Pilot Program, EPA will provide up to $100,000 in financial
assistance and/or services to local governments for specified activities. Applicants are offered several types of program
assistance, including funding through a cooperative agreement, access to facilitation services, and/or the availability of
personnel under the Intergovernmental Personnel Act (IPA).
BACKGROUND
EPA selected the City of New Bedford, Massachusetts,
for a Superfund Redevelopment Pilot. New Bedford is
home to the New Bedford Harbor Superfund site. The
18,000-acre site is an urban tidal estuary with sediments
highly contaminated by polychlorinated biphenyls
(PCBs) and heavy metals. From the 1940s until the
1970s, two electrical capacitor manufacturing facilities
discharged PCB wastes directly into the harbor and
indirectly via discharges to the city's sewage system.
As a result, the harbor is contaminated for at least six
miles, from the upper Acushnet River to Buzzards Bay.
In September 1983, EPA added the site to its list of
hazardous waste sites needing cleanup.
OBJECTIVES
As part of the cleanup of the New Bedford Harbor site,
EPA will remove 450,000 cubic yards of contaminated
sediment and store it in shoreline confined disposal
facilities. One of the disposal facilities will be in the
North Terminal Area, an industrial area devoted mainly
to marine-related uses. The city plans to use Pilot funds
to prepare conceptual and design plans for a multi-
modal freight terminal at the North Terminal Area
disposal facility. The city's goal is to promote economic
development along the waterfront. The plan will ensure
that the freight terminal is compatible with the disposal
facility design.
PILOT SNAPSHOT
Boston
V
New Bedford
Harbor

Applicant Name: New Bedford, MA
Site Name: New Bedford Harbor
Date of Selection: July 2000
Anticipated Award: Cooperative Agreement
($99,733)
Profile: The city will promote economic
development along its waterfront by preparing
design plans for a multi-modal freight terminal
on the site.
Contacts:
Don Berger	Superfund Hotline:
U.S. EPA Region 1 (800) 424-9346 or
(617) 918-1351	(703)412-9810 (DC Metro Area)
berger.don@epa.gov reuse.info@epa.gov
Visit the EPA Superfund Redevelopment Web site
http://www.epa.gov/superfund/programs/recycle/pilot.htm

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