By Senator Michael O. Moore & Representative Daniel M. Donahue
As Published in the Worcester Business Journal
May 9, 2016
The City of Worcester has blossomed into a bustling Gateway City, home to nationally recognized colleges and universities, corporations, a robust healthcare and biotechnology industry, and significant private and public investment. This success is a result of our efforts as a diverse community of teachers, caregivers, businessmen and women. But it has not been easy. While the hard work and contributions of area residents have made the Heart of the Commonwealth what it is today, we are still burdened by misguided decisions of the past. An example still fresh in our minds is the environmental cleanup underway on a construction site off of Quinsigamond Avenue.
The site, which will serve as the future location of a new Worcester Regional Transit Authority (WRTA) facility, was once a manufactured gas plant from the mid-1800s to 1969. In 2014 the WRTA purchased the land from Eversource, formerly named NSTAR, to develop a new maintenance facility. The key issue is that the WRTA relied on information provided by Eversource about existing contamination on the land prior to purchase, and while Eversource disclosed contamination on the property, the extent to which the property was contaminated was grossly underestimated.
What we now know today is that this site also played host to decades of environmental degradation, neglect and inadequate remedies that enabled contamination to fester. While the easy thing to do may have been to let the contamination frenzy continue, it was clear to us that passing this burden to the next generation of Worcester residents would have been an irresponsible decision.
With the support of local leaders, the City’s Legislative Delegation and the Administration, approximately $16 million in state funding was authorized and expended to decontaminate the property in 2014. The more recent underground discovery of coal tar deposits and other hazards, however, led to additional and unforeseen cleanup expenses estimated at over $3 million.
Recognizing the negative environmental implications of the tainted property, and the importance of ensuring the WRTA can continue serving the needs of 38 communities, we took immediate action to secure the additional funding necessary for detoxification of the site.
We also understood that this buried burden should not be the taxpayers’ obligation, and therefore requested that the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) assign proper responsibility to Eversource. This effort, which yielded a positive response by DEP, will assist with recouping millions of the taxpayer dollars expended on this decontamination.
The history and ongoing detoxification of this property illustrates how our decisions have a long-lasting impact on our communities. Nevertheless, these types of projects are another step in the right direction towards improving our commitment to the importance of health, safety, and effective environmental management. Corporations should be part of our communities and help us thrive and keep growing. We are committed to work hard to make sure they do.