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DDT-Laden Sediment Proposed For Cedarville Landfill

Posted on February 18, 2019

A proposal to deposit a portion of the sediment from the harbor dredging project in the Cedarville landfill is dredging up the past for a number of Cedarville residents – namely 2,000 barrels of it.

PLYMOUTH – A proposal to deposit a portion of the sediment from the harbor dredging project in the Cedarville landfill is dredging up the past for a number of Cedarville residents – namely 2,000 barrels of it.

Newspaper articles dating to the late 1970s and 1980s confirm that traces of seven toxic chemicals were found in the drinking water of Cedarville residents – toxins connected to 2,000 barrels of hazardous waste that were illegally dumped in the Cedarville landfill, which is unlined. Town officials didn’t respond promptly according to more than 100 residents who protested outside Town Hall in March of 1981. Lawyers were hired, indictments were discussed, trucks loaded with fresh water were dispatched, and eventually town water was connected to affected homes.

Marine and Environmental Affairs Director David Gould went before the Cedarville Steering Committee Wednesday night to apprise the village of a possible plan to deposit some of the material from the dredging project in Plymouth Harbor in the “valley” area of the Cedarville landfill located off Hedges Pond Road – the landfill with the toxic history. He showed slides of low tide in the harbor, illustrating boats that had little or no water surrounding them. Dredging the area is important so vessels can move in these clogged passages that hug the waterfront, he said.

The Army Corps of Engineers is removing 400,000 cubic yards of sludge from the federal areas of the harbor, and the state has deemed that this sediment is safe for ocean disposal. But due to levels of DDT discovered in local areas of the harbor (which the town is on the hook to remove) the state has deemed that some of this 96,000 cubic yards of dredging material must be deposited in a landfill, Gould said.

That’s a problem, because Gould noted that it would cost Plymouth $19 million to truck this material out of town to another landfill. To save this money, the town is considering depositing the DDT-laden material on top of the existing clay cap in the declivity of the Cedarville landfill, he said. The plan would likely involve lining the area first and then capping it, in order to prevent the material from leaching into groundwater.

See our earlier story on this topic.

Some residents in the audience expressed concern that this project would add more contamination to already polluted groundwater. When one man questioned dumping more toxic, hazardous waste in the landfill, both Gould and Jon Kitchen of Civil & Environmental Consultants bridled, saying this dredged sediment is neither toxic nor hazardous. They both said the material is similar to what residents find in the soil of their yards. Gould noted that chromium, cadmium, arsenic and lead are all organics found in residential soils.

However, studies have linked DDT to reproductive illnesses and cancer, particularly breast cancer. According to the National Cancer Institute, women exposed to DDT as children are at risk for developing breast cancer from that exposure decades later. DDT was banned in 1972 and is deemed as “moderately toxic.”

Gould stressed repeatedly that the Department of Environmental Protection is still testing the sediment to determine what portion of it needs to be disposed of on land. In addition to testing what is in the sample, Gould noted that scientists observe how ocean organisms react to the sample – seeing if they die or are negatively impacted by it. Material with this negative impact would be a candidate for the landfill, he added. Zoning Board of Appeals member Michael “Buster” Main, who was sitting in the audience, noted that human beings aren’t likely to react any better to exposure to the material.

Kitchen noted that the proposal would increase the overall elevation of the landfill by only two feet, with clean loam placed on top of the already capped and newly capped areas. Currently the 7.5 acre landfill has a capacity for 180,000 cubic yards of material, he said. The plan, if approved by the state, would be to fill the valley area, thereby flattening it so that it could be used as a dog park, public works staging area or other community use. A solar field is off the table, he added, as connection to the grid would prove too costly.

When Main expressed concern that the town would use the landfill as a revenue source in the future, inviting other towns to dump there, Gould said Town Manager Melissa Arrighi has assured him that only town projects would be candidates for it. There is a shortage of alternatives for dumping material of any kind, Gould said, and the competition for open landfills is extreme – hence the high tipping fees for disposal.

In addition to the dredged sediment, Gould said the Department of Public Works needs to dispose of catch basin material, which could be dumped in the Cedarville landfill as well.

Both Kitchen and Gould reminded the audience that the state has yet to determine if the proposal would be safe for the environment. If depositing this material in the Cedarville landfill doesn’t meet the DEPs standards, which are extremely stringent, it won’t happen, they said.

Gould said the town is trying to piggy-back on the federal dredging project, and is hoping to hire the contractor that is already in the harbor doing the first phase of the work to do the local dredging as well. The plan would save money because transporting this equipment and getting it on site is a huge expense, he said.

When a Cedarville resident questioned why this project has surfaced out of the blue and with such a sense of urgency, Gould shook his head. He noted that he’s been talking in public meetings about the possibility of depositing the material in the Cedarville landfill for five years. And the need to dredge the harbor has been discussed publicly for 14 years, he added.

He noted that the Manomet landfill is not a good option due to its elevation, which is already significant.

A woman in the audience asked how long a landfill liner lasts. Gould and Kitchen said they didn’t know.

In December of 1977, barrels were found in the landfill and the town tested the material, but no records could later be found of those tests. A town committee referred to the barrels as containing “toxic waste” and requested testing be done, but the Cape Cod Times reported that town officials admitted that there were no records of such testing.

Then, in 1980, police acted on a tip, and dug up barrels at the landfill, uncovering one nearly filled with methylene chloride, a toxic industry solvent. It was later determined that at least 2,000 50-gallon barrels of toxic waste had been dumped in the unlined landfill, and that they were to blame for contaminating well water. The attorney general’s office got involved, but apparently wouldn’t hand over test information in a timely manner.

For the next 10 months there was no effort, according to the Cape Cod Times, to notify residents and “no meaningful water test” was conducted. Reporter Wayne Miller asked: Why were those tests 10 months in coming when at least two state agencies knew as much – or more – than local authorities?

By 1981, it was confirmed that heavy concentrations of methyl ketone and methylene chloride had been dumped illegally in the Cedarville landfill. In February of 1981, the Department of Environmental Quality Engineering tested water serving the Nameloc Road area and discovered methyl chloride in water tested from a resident’s home.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration cites methyl chloride as a carcinogen and on its website refers to a case of a worker who died while using it to remove the coating from a bathtub.

The Old Colony Memorial reported Feb. 26, 1981, that Cedarville water was contaminated. The Patriot Ledger reported Feb. 27, 1981, that trace amounts of toxic chemicals had been discovered in the drinking water of a Cedarville housing development including methyl chloride, chloroform, trichloroethylene and tetrachloroethylene, among others.

A blizzard of newspaper stories followed, some showing protesters lined up outside Town Hall, and reports that Plymouth was entertaining plans at the time to site yet another landfill next to the existing one.

Much remains to be seen regarding the possibility of depositing some of the dredging material in the Cedarville landfill.

To sum up: The Army Corps of Engineers is removing 400,000 cubic yards of sediment from the federal areas of the harbor; the town’s dredging would include the removal of 96,000 cubic yards of sediment from the local areas of the harbor; the state has deemed that some of the latter sediment is laden with DDT and must be deposited in a landfill.

Town Meeting in April will be asked to spend $2.5 million on the local dredging as part of a capital improvement project; the state will match that funding at 100 percent to help the town complete the $5 million local dredging work.

If the DEP approves the proposal, and the material can be moved to the landfill, Gould said he hopes the $5 million will cover the whole project. The priority areas for local dredging are the T-Wharf, Town Wharf and State Pier, he said.

Source: plymouth.wickedlocal.com

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