Rivers still spoiled

Decades after factories that contaminated Woburn soil closed, the city still feels repercussions and cleanup from the chemicals.

“Everything’s been proposed but nothing has been done,” said Mike Raymond, a Woburn Neighborhood Association member. “We don’t have information on what the final plan is going to be. We’re meeting [with the EPA] monthly.”

The two sites in Woburn, Industri-Plex off Commerce Way and Wells G and H near Salem Street, are in varied stages of cleanup, said Massachusetts Environmental Protection Agency spokesman Joseph LeMay. While one portion of the Industriplex site has been cleaned and redeveloped, there is still a lot of work to be done in Woburn.

The EPA is working closely with Woburn officials and residents in the area to clean the sites, said Ward 5 Alderman Darlene Mercer-Bruen.

“They do monitor the process and there are meetings; the city’s involved,” Mercer-Bruen said about the cleanup process. “No one’s reaching out to me to say this isn’t going well.”

The EPA divides Superfund sites into Operable Units, areas that can be cleaned and redeveloped to be usable sites again.

“Anderson Regional Transportation Center is at the heart of the site, the central area,” LeMay said. “That’s where the chemical manufacturing took place. [Operable Unit 1] is a thriving commercial area. [We] capped 110 acres of property at that site.”

from the Woburn Advocate