Release Date: 03/10/2016
Contact Information: David Deegan, (617) 918-1017
BOSTON – The Massachusetts Electric Company (aka National Grid), recently agreed to pay $850,000 plus interest to pay for the past cleanup of asbestos-contaminated soil at the Peabody Street Asbestos Site in Salem, Mass. This settlement covers most of EPA’s cleanup costs of $927,275.
The .38-acre site, at 15 Peabody St. in Salem, is owned by the city and is used as a public park. From 1910 to 1964, the Massachusetts Electric Company and other utilities operated a power plant at the site. The Massachusetts Electric Company then demolished the power plant, and left most of the demolition material in place.
The city discovered asbestos in soil when it was building a park at the site. The Massachusetts Dept. of Environmental Protection asked for help from EPA, which in May 2009 agreed that contaminated soils should be removed quickly and which then did a cleanup that was finished in November 2009. In January 2014, EPA notified the electric company that it was a “potentially responsible party” at this Superfund site and made a demand for reimbursement of cleanup costs.
No additional cleanup actions or costs are anticipated at the site.
More information on EPA’s cleanup of the Peabody Street Asbestos Site: http://www3.epa.gov/region1/removal-sites/PeabodyStreetAsbestosSite.html