Burrillville’s Western Sand & Gravel one of four Superfund Sites in state to get once-over from EPA

Government makes sure once-hazardous sites are stabilized

BURRILLVILLE — The Environmental Protection Agency has completed required comprehensive five-year reviews of four Superfund Sites across Rhode Island – including Western Sand & Gravel in Burrillville – to make sure previously completed cleanups remain safe.

The three other sites are the Central Landfill in Johnston; Picillo Farm in Coventry; and Davisville Naval Construction Battalion Center in North Kingstown.

The Superfund program, a federal program established by Congress in 1980, investigates and cleans up the most complex, uncontrolled or abandoned hazardous waste sites in the country with a goal of returning them to productive use.

“Completing five year review evaluations at Superfund Sites is a critical part of the Superfund cleanup process,” said EPA Regional Administrator Alexandra Dunn. “It helps ensure remedies remain protective of public health and the environment.”

“Since Congress passed the Superfund law, many of the worst hazardous sites in Rhode Island and the nation have either been cleaned up or brought under control, but EPA’s five year review evaluations remind us that even cleaned-up sites remain works in progress,” said Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management Director Janet Coit. “We are grateful for EPA’s vigilance monitoring these four Superfund sites to ensure that their cleanup continues to protect public health and the environment.”

Throughout the Superfund process of designing and constructing a cleanup remedy for a hazardous waste site, EPA’s first goal is to make sure the remedy will be protective of public health and the environment. At many sites, EPA ensures protectiveness by requiring reviews of cleanups every five years. It is important for EPA to regularly check on these sites to ensure the remedy is working properly. Five-year review evaluations identify any issues and, if called for, recommend action necessary to address them.

EPA is actively involved in Superfund studies and cleanups at 13 sites across Rhode Island including federal facilities. There are many phases of the Superfund cleanup process including considering future use and redevelopment at sites and conducting post cleanup monitoring of sites. EPA must ensure the remedy is protective of public health and the environment and any redevelopment will uphold the protectiveness of the remedy into the future.

The Western Sand and Gravel Superfund site includes about 25 acres in a rural area on the boundary of Burrillville and North Smithfield. From 1953 until 1975, the site operated as a sand and gravel quarry. From 1975 to 1979, site operators disposed of wastes into unlined lagoons and pits. Those waste handling practices resulted in contamination of soil and groundwater.

The EPA placed the site on the Superfund program’s National Priorities List in 1983. Cleanup activities included waste removal, a groundwater re-circulation system and an alternate water supply. Cleanup also included capping a 2-acre area and fencing of the sixacre contaminated soil area, restricting groundwater and land use, and monitoring of natural processes to clean up groundwater.

In 2001, Supreme Mid-Atlantic, Inc. purchased the site. In 2004, the company completed construction of a 20,000 square-foot truck-body assembly building and open space for truck parking. This building and parking area occupy about 19 acres generally up-gradient from the capped area and contaminated groundwater. Supreme Mid-Atlantic, Inc. conducts assembly, sales and service activities at the site.

As of today, the site has been stabilized, and an alternative water supply has been made available while natural attenuation processes clean contaminated groundwater. Institutional controls prohibit the use of the groundwater in the meantime. p