DEP @ BOS – followup
DEP update on Striar’s Love Canal
The Enterprise reports on the Middleboro BOS meeting of 7/28/2008 where representatives of the Department of Environmental Protection reported on the status of the Rockland Industries hazardous waste site on Plymouth Street. Audio is included at the end of this article.
The meeting was well attended by local residents. The BOS led by chairman Bond did a good job questioning the DEP representatives. Rep. Tom Calter showed up as well. You have to hand it to Calter. He’s been accessible to the town whether you agree with all his positions or not.
My take
This is completely unacceptable. As I understand it, the Striar’s don’t have to do any more than maintain status quo – with the status being HAZARDOUS WASTE SITE. So long as there is no human habitation planned, the site can go on and on being a polluted health hazard that has ruined a huge section of town and possibly caused a number of deaths from ALS. The DEP is toothless and seems afraid to push the Striar’s too hard for fear that they’ll walk away. Much of the waste has been merely covered over with clean fill. How about we take all that polluted soil and put it on the property of some state official or the Striar’s? How quick would the Striar’s be to clean this up if it was on or near their homes?
No matter the cost, nothing will be acceptable except complete removal of all contaminated earth and water.
Kudos to the Citizens Environmental Health Impact Committee, the Middleboro Con Com, the Middleboro BOS, and state officials like Calter for working to get this resolved.
Themocracy
Rep. Calter attended the first meeting last year that Vic Sylvia had organized. Rep. Calter did it, as I recall, on his wife’s birthday and spoke of his commitment to this issue. I believe he had a family member who suffered and died of ALS.
You raised a good point, nemasket. We can all disagree on certain issues, but we need to behave like adults and recognize that there are many issues on which we can agree. I don’t think there are any town residents who will defend the Striars’ legacy of pollution and contamination that they buried.
Public statements indicate that the 55 gallon drums were buried in plastic/rubber, concealed with shredded tires. The Striars built their fortune by leaving contamination behind.
While DEP is bound to consider specified hazards, what kids or dogs wander through this site unsuspecting and bring those chemicals home on their clothing or absorbed through their skin?
Threats of the Striars’ abandonment might be nullified by continued publicity and circulating the facts to others.
The Striars have profited handsomely on many property deals, the prison in New Braintree comes immediately to mind. How many millions was that?
Maybe it’s time for the Striars to act honorably and dig up what they buried.
I used to watch the Selectmen’s Meetings when Bob Lessard or Vic Sylvia or Jo Runci would bring up this mess and report on the most recent events. Wayne Perkins, Chairman Dinosaur at the time, would pat them on the head and say ‘Keep us posted.’ Mr. Perkins never asked questions or offered support or recognized the risk. It’s doubtful if he even recognized the risk, afterall, it wasn’t in his neighborhood and he didn’t know what those complicated chemicals were.
Most of the current Selectmen were on the Board at the time and merely nodded their heads in agreement.
It is only the citizen involvement that has elevated this issue and it is only citizen involvement and continued protest that will clean up Striars’ mess.
They made their fortune by burying this stuff. Now it’s time to dig it up and stop the seepage.
Mr. Striar: Be honorable and do it right.
sarah,
Certainly the sins of the past should be considered. C. Bond seems to be pretty motivated to address this issue.
I have some blogs coming up that look at the unsung people that have been working on this situation all along.
I guess I’m saying that while some of the current and past BOS may have some culpability for the history of inaction, there seems to be some momentum now. I think it behooves us all to keep the boat moving forward. In parallel we can revisit the mistakes of the past to prevent similar things from happening in the future.
At last year’s meeting, not one single sitting Selectmen could be bothered to attend, but Rep. Calter was there. (2 candidates for Selectmen attended.)
Mrs. Duphily, the recently elected BOS member loudly acknowledged her unfamiliarity with the site which has been written about over the years in the Middleboro Gazette (still only 50 cents), the Brockton Enterprise, the Boston Globe and recently, the New York Times. Each of the other 4 current Selectmen has been sitting on the Board as the issue has been raised in the past.
The current BOS attention is appreciated because it appears that it will finally lead to effective action after 40 years, but their lack of leadership in the past deserves condemnation. That lack of leadership, failure to follow through, and inaction is still very much alive and well. Only the cast has changed. I hope voters are watching.
I’m inclined to applaud the current attention and worry about the past later.
If you had asked me a year ago where the Rockland Industries site was, I probably would have said “Duh… Rockland”
From a "townie": many yrs. of concern from residents however few at the time, no one listened to them. Right on Sarah!!
Yes bellicose bumpkin, the momemtum has finally picked up, they are now listening, so let's just hope it keeps going and residents can keep it going if they go to meetings and be heard! ALSO, in honor of all those that tried in the past & for an old friend, Vic Sylvia, KEEP UP THIS FIGHT!!
Well I’ll do what I can to publicize meetings and so on.
Drop me a line when a meeting is coming up. I’ll post it on the forum and on this blog. Hopefully my minions will hear the call and show up.
There were several steps we had to take to get us to the meeting on Monday night:
1>Present our finding to the DEP.
2>Present our findings to the Conservation Commission.
3>Have the ConCom draw up an enforcement order against the property order.
4>Present our view and the ConCom's to the BOS.
5>Have the DEP present their case before the BOS.
These steps were necessary legally to help the EPA get involved and we met today Senator Kerry's advisor Kate Anderson and without giving away too much, I think you will see action. The DEP is limited to what they can do but the EPA (The FEDs) can go back in history and find every corporation or LLC that was in existence and make them pay. This includes any enterprises from other members of the family that are in operation today.
We have the backing of Senator Kennedy along with Rep. Tom Calter, Rep. Steven Canessa, Sen. Mark Pacheco, Congressman Barney Frank & SRPEDD. We have met with all of these individuals but have kept it out of the press until the DEP made their presentation.
We have been working for several months on this and you will only see the public side of it because it is such a very sensitive matter.
It will take a little more time because we have a few more steps to take but please be patient, we WILL get this site cleaned up, please keep the faith!
That sounds great Wally.
Hopefully the resolution is far more thorough than the current DEP rules which seem to allow the site to suck in perpetuity so long as no one is living there and so long as the level of suckiness doesn’t increase.
Wally, What you and others have accomplished in a stepwise fashion is truly impressive and is to be applauded. In no way would I diminish your current endeavors. Your group has achieved more and attracted attention, support and publicity in such a relatively short period of time than the previous 40 years seems to have.
I agree with the Bumpkin that spreading the word would be appreciate, both in this blog and in the discussion forum. If I had been made aware of the ConComm meeting, I would have attended and brought several friends. Sometimes articles or meetings written about in the Middleboro Gazette (still only 50 cents) are overlooked. Please circulate the information widely. There are many of us who truly care.
Thank you Sarah and everyone else who is interested. Cancer & ALS is a real problem in this town that has been ignored for years. We will do our best to see if any of the former companies in town are linked to the source. We are also concerned that the surrounding private drinking wells no longer in use may have been contaminated.
Our group (CEHIC) is going to have a public meeting shortly and I will post it so everyone has a chance to attend.
Thanks Again!
One other note:
Our group is split with Pro & Anti Casino people and we all get along great.