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Brookline, Mass. Real Estate Developers Face Fines for Hazardous Waste Violations in N. Attleboro, Mass.

Release Date: 04/30/2008
Contact Information: Paula Ballentine, (617) 918-1027

(Boston, Mass. – April 30, 2008) - A Brookline-based real estate developer and its management company face fines of up to $227,500 for violating federal hazardous waste requirements during a redevelopment project in North Attleboro, Mass.

An EPA complaint alleges that the companies, Blackinton Commons L.L.C. and CG2, Inc., violated the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) by failing to properly identify and dispose of hazardous waste during their work to redevelop the former V.H. Blackinton & Co., Inc. jewelry manufacturing facility at 140 and 148 Commonwealth Avenue in North Attleboro, Mass.

The work to remediate and redevelop the N. Attleboro site included excavating and disposal of waste from the facility’s former wastewater sludge lagoons. The former facility included an electroplating operation which used the lagoons to collect wastewater treatment sludge before disposing of it off-site. The sludge, which is listed as hazardous waste under RCRA, contained contaminants including arsenic, cadmium, chromium, lead, and silver. In the course of redeveloping the property for residential reuse, the lagoon area was excavated and the contaminated material improperly sent to a landfill in Rochester, N.H. that was not authorized to accept hazardous waste.

Blackinton and CG2 failed to identify the waste excavated from the lagoons as hazardous waste and mixed the hazardous waste sludge with other waste from the remediation to create approximately 212 tons of hazardous waste. Blackinton and CG2 failed to adequately determine whether the hazardous waste met RCRA standards for land disposal.

“This case underscores the importance for real estate developers to understand their obligations under federal environmental laws,” said Robert W. Varney, regional administrator of EPA’s New England office. “Following hazardous waste requirements helps ensure that the health of people and the environment is being protected.”

The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection is overseeing ongoing environmental work at the property to ensure that the site is properly closed.

More information: Enforcing hazardous waste requirements in New England (epa.gov/region1/enforcement/waste/)

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