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EPA Extends Comment Period to August 11, 2004 for Dover, NH Municipal Landfill

Release Date: 07/13/04
Contact Information: Contact: Alice Kaufman, EPA Community Affairs, (617) 918-1064

For Immediate Release: July 13, 2004; Release # 04-07-13

Boston - EPA today announced that it will extend the public comment period on the amended cleanup for the Dover Municipal Landfill Superfund Site in Dover, NH to August 11, 2004. This decision was made in response to requests from citizens. EPA is holding a public hearing on July 19, 2004 at 7:00 PM in the Dover City Hall Auditorium on Central Avenue in Dover.

At a June 21, 2004 public information meeting in Dover, EPA and N.H. Department of Environmental Services discussed the details of the revised cleanup plan for the landfill. Those changes include:

• Allowing the present, natural soil cover to remain on the landfill.
• Installing a treatment trenches at the edge of the landfill to immobilize, capture, or destroy contaminants flowing from the landfill into the ground water.

The portions of the original 1991 cleanup plan that are retained include:

• Cleaning contaminated ground water that flows south to the Bellamy Reservoir through extraction and treatment.
• Cleaning contaminated ground water that flows east to the Cocheco River through natural attenuation.
• Monitoring indoor air sampling in buildings near the site.
• Monitoring and excavating, if necessary, sediment in the Cocheco River.

EPA is accepting public comment from June 22, 2004 to August 11, 2004. EPA is interested in your comments regarding the proposed changes to the 1991 plan. All comments will be considered in preparing a final decision for the site.

The Dover Municipal Landfill is located in a rural area south of Tolend Road. It operated from 1961 to 1979 accepting municipal and industrial wastes including liquid hazardous wastes. These wastes later leached into the ground water.

Two contaminated ground water plumes are moving away from the site in two directions. The Eastern Plume flows east and discharges to the Cocheco River. The Southern Plume flows south towards the Bellamy Reservoir. No contaminants have been found in the reservoir. Identified contaminants in the plume include: arsenic, vinyl chloride, 1, 2 dichloroethylene, and trichloroethylene, benzene and tetrahydrofuran.

This site was placed on EPA’s National Priorities List (commonly known as the Superfund list) in 1983.

To provide formal comments, you may offer oral comments during the public hearing or send written comments postmarked no later than August 25, 2004 to:

Darryl Luce
US EPA
1 Congress St., Suite 1100 (HBO)
Boston, MA 02114
email: [email protected]

Related Information:
Dover Municipal Landfill Fact Sheet
Superfund in New England
Long-Term Cleanups