Finally, the remediation of PCB contamination at the Port of New Bedford is nearing completion.
Jonathan Darling, Public Information Officer for the City of New Bedford, says, “We are convinced that the cleanup will happen this year. “
The Environmental Protection Agency has spent $1 billion over 40 years to plug commercial tea that has been dumped for decades into the Acushnet River. The result was a poisonous and damaging disaster that put the port on the EPA’s Superfund priority list decades ago.
I don’t forget that the mayor at the time, John A. Markey, circa 1980, told me that no one knew what to make of the situation. Markey said experts feared an explosion imaginable if the sediment was disturbed.
The EPA states, “The 18,000-acre New Bedford is an urban tidal estuary with sediments heavily infected with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and heavy metals. “
PCBs are the ones that attack the brain and reproductive system.
The company states: “At least two brands in the region used PCBs in the production of electrical appliances between the 1940s and the late 1970s. Companies dumped “industrial waste containing PCBs directly into the port and through the city’s sewer system. “
The EPA banned the manufacture of PCBs in the late 1970s.
Three of the four stages of the clean-up process, which began in 1994, have been completed. The final phase is expected to conclude this year.
“The cleanup and completion of the EPA-leased facility on Sawyer Street, where they conduct their cleanup operations and where they store some contaminants, may not be done until 2025, but the port itself is expected to be completed this year,” Darling said.
“For decades, pollution of the Port of New Bedford has been an environmental scourge for our region and has hindered investment in the Port of New Bedford,” said Mayor Jon Mitchell.
“Completing this cleanup will pave the way for more maritime investment and port jobs, and open up recreational opportunities for our residents, in the domain near the North End,” Mitchell said.
Some argue that fish caught in the harbor will be unfit for human consumption for many years.
Gallery Credit: Tim Weisberg
Gallery Credit: Hannah Lang
Finally, remediation of PCB contamination at the Port of New Bedford is nearing completion.
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Finally, the remediation of PCB contamination at the Port of New Bedford is nearing completion.
Jonathan Darling, Public Information Officer for the City of New Bedford, says, “We are convinced that the cleanup will happen this year. “
The Environmental Protection Agency has spent $1 billion over 40 years to plug commercial tea that has been dumped for decades into the Acushnet River. The result was a poisonous and damaging disaster that put the port on the EPA’s Superfund priority list decades ago.
I don’t forget that the mayor at the time, John A. Markey, circa 1980, told me that no one knew what to make of the situation. Markey said experts feared an explosion imaginable if the sediment was disturbed.
The EPA states, “The 18,000-acre New Bedford is an urban tidal estuary with sediments heavily infected with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and heavy metals. “
PCBs are the ones that attack the brain and reproductive system.
The company states: “At least two brands in the region used PCBs in the production of electrical appliances between the 1940s and the late 1970s. Companies dumped “industrial waste containing PCBs directly into the port and through the city’s sewer system. “
The EPA banned the manufacture of PCBs in the late 1970s.
Three of the four stages of the clean-up process, which began in 1994, have been completed. The final phase is expected to conclude this year.
“The cleanup and completion of the EPA-leased facility on Sawyer Street, where they conduct their cleanup operations and where they store some contaminants, may not be done until 2025, but the port itself is expected to be completed this year,” Darling said.
“For decades, pollution of the Port of New Bedford has been an environmental scourge for our region and has hindered investment in the Port of New Bedford,” said Mayor Jon Mitchell.
“Completing this cleanup will pave the way for more maritime investment and port jobs, and open up recreational opportunities for our residents, in the domain near the North End,” Mitchell said.
Some argue that fish caught in the harbor will be unfit for human consumption for many years.