Lawsuit says dredging got murky

MassCEC accused of misrepresentation

The Massachusetts Clean Energy Center has been hit with a $23 million lawsuit by two construction companies that were hired to dredge New Bedford harbor because, according to the lawsuit, the agency misrepresented the complexity of the undertaking.

“Fundamentally, given the actual conditions encountered, the project could not be constructed as designed,” attorneys for Cashman Dredging & Marine Contracting Co. LLC and Weeks Marine Inc. wrote in their complaint. “It required additional and different equipment, more time, extensive blasting and additional permits.”

The companies, which brought the suit in Suffolk Superior Court earlier this week, said MassCEC’s bid documents woefully understated the conditions surrounding the work that had to be completed. The project was connected to the New Bedford Marine Commerce Terminal, which had “its roots in the Cape Wind project,” according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit alleges that the “subsurface conditions” in the areas that needed to be dredged were not what the agency described when it put the project up for bid.

The companies also accuse MassCEC of holding it to an impossible 570-day mandate after which the project needed to be “substantially completed.”

“MassCEC refused to grant a time extension despite the acknowledged increased scope of the work because it was under political pressure to deliver the completed project by December 2014 so that the terminal would be ready for the commencement of the Cape Wind project at the beginning of January 2015,” the lawsuit says.

MassCEC has not yet responded to the lawsuit, and declined to get into specifics.

“While we don’t comment on pending litigation, the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center takes seriously its fiduciary responsibility when utilizing public funds, and works diligently each day to accelerate the success of clean energy technologies, companies, and projects in the Commonwealth,” said Catherine Williams, spokeswoman for the agency, in a statement.

The construction companies accuse MassCEC of breaching its contract and the covenant of good faith and fair dealing.

The Herald reported in 2014 that the marine terminal was $10 million over budget, according to state officials.