United States Environmental Protection Agency15.-I. ioV. 1301485. 1. 2 . UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL...
Transcript of United States Environmental Protection Agency15.-I. ioV. 1301485. 1. 2 . UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL...
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1301485 1
2 UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
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4 SDMS DocID 255709
5 PUBLIC HEARING - AUBURN ROAD LANDFILL
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9 Public Hearing on Focused Feasibility Study
10 For the Auburn Road Landfill Superfund Site
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15 Hearing held at the Londonderry Junior High
16 School, Mammoth Road, Route 128,
17 Hampshire, on Wednesday, August 6,
18 at 7:45 P.M. and ending at 8:10 P.M.
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Londonderry, New
1986, commencing
LEGAL DEPOSITION SERVICE SHEILA SANTAS CASSAVAUGH
4 HAMPTON STREET
CONCORD. NEW HAMPSHIRE O33O1
I6O3) 224-246O
1 APPEARANCES;
2 Merrill Hohmam Director, Waste Management Division Dan Coughlin, Chief, Superfund Section Chet Janeswki, Project Officer Michael Donahue, Director, New
4 and Pollution Control Commission
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Hampshire Water Supply
LEGAL DEPOSITION SERVICE SHEILA SANTAS CASSAVAUGH
4 HAMPTON STREET
CONCORD. NEW HAMPSHIRE O33O1
I6O.3I 224-2460
1 MR. HOHMAN: Good evening, and welcome. I'm Merrill
2 Hohman. I 'm the director of the Waste Management
Division of the New England Regional Office of
4 E.P.A. I'm going to try to get along without
5 speaking with a microphone. I hope everyone can
6 hear me. If you can't, just wave. This is an
7 informal public hearing, to receive your comments
8 on the draft feasibility study for the so-called
9 Auburn Road Landfill Superfund site, here in Londonderry.
10 The feasibility study that has been distributed,
11 was prepared by NUS Corporation, under contract
12 to E.P.A., using funds from the federal suporfund
program. Let me begin first by introducing soma
people, so you'll know who they are, as you see
them running around. From E.P.A. on my immediate
left is Chester Janeswki, site manager for this
17 particular site. Somewhere out in the audience,
18 over here, on my left, your right, is Dan Coughlin,
19 who is chief of the New Hampshire/Vermont superfund
20 section in E.P.A. On my right and your left is
21 Patty D1Andrea, community relations specialist
22 with E.P.A. We also have, from the State of Naw
23 Hampshire, the Water Supply and Pollution Control
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1 Commission, Mike Donahue and Charlie Berube, down
2 in front. A couple of comments on the procedures
3 that we're going to follow this evening. First,
4 you'll note that there is a stenographic record
5 being prepared of the meeting. Transcript of
6 that record will be available, at E.P.A.'s offices
7 in the John F. Kennedy Building in Boston and
8 also both in the Leach Library and the town hall
9 here in Londonderry. If, for any reason, you
10 want your own copy, I would suggest that you talk
11 to the stenographer, directly, yourself, at the
12 end of this evening's hearing. We've passed around
13 sign-up sheets and I would start by calling people
14 who have indicated on the sheets or signed up,
15 and then I'll call those people in order. If
16 you wish to make a statement, 1 would ask you
17 to please sign up on one of those sheets and give
18 it to Ms. D'Andrea, from our community relation's
19 office. If you are going to make a statement,
20 I would ask that you come forward and use the
21 podium and the microphone, to help the stenographer
22 on her record. When you do come forward, please
23 identify yourself and tell us who you represent,
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if you do represent someone. Also, to help the
2 stenographer, would you please spell your name,
3 so that she'll be able to be sure it's correct,
in the record. I would also ask that you limit
5 your oral comments to ten minutes. If you have
6 a longer presentation than that, I would ask that
7 you summarize it, and then submit the complete
8 presentation for the record. They'll be no questions
9 and answers during the hearing part of the evening,
10 since this is to get a formal record of your comments
11 on the study and the various alternatives. After
12 We close the formal part of the evening, we will
13 then turn around and stick around and answer any
14 questions that you may wish to raise. Public
15 comment period will continue to be open until
16 August 14th. And by that we mean that after tonight's
17 hearing, if you have other thoughts or you want
18 to make comments to us, you can do 30 in writing.
19 Comments postmarked on or before August 14, will
20 be considered part of the record, as E.P.A. makes
21 the decision. So I'd like to begin...are there
22 any questions, first of all, on the procedure
23 we're going to follow? Okay, then I would like
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CONCORD, NEW HAMPSHIRE O33O1
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1 to begin by calling first Mr. David Hess.
2 MR. HESS: Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. My
3 name is David Hess, H e s s . I'm an attorney
4 with the law firm of Brown and Nixon in Manchester
5 and I'm here on behalf of the owners and management
6 and the residents of the Whispering Pines Mobile
7 Home Village. Succinctly stated, we are urging
8 the E.P.A, in conjunction with the State Water
9 Supply and Pollution Control Commission, to adopt,
10 alternative to, in your proposal, namely the extension
11 of a substantial water main, from the present
12 location and site of the Manchester Water Works,
13 the distance necessary to serve the affected areas.
14 We believe that the RAFS Study, which NUS has
15 completed for you, indicates, wit'iout any doubt,
that that is the only significant, viable alternative,
17 which should be considered and I suggest, by way
of summary, the following points: First of all
19 it is the only alternative, which your engineers
20 acknowledge will provide an assured source of
21 clean, safe drinking water. Tne only other close
22 alternative to that is number three, providing
23 for a new well field to service th=; affected areas,
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1 but as your engineers, themselves, have pointed
2 out, that alternative provides no assurance, absent
3 extensive hydrogeologic studies, that you're going
4 to come up with clean water. You hope you'll
5 be upgrading from the contamination plume, but
6 we don't we don't really know and indeed there
7 may be other plumes out there. So, number one,
8 it is the only assured source of clean drinking
9 water. For that reason, it is the safest alternative.
10 It is the most superior alternative from a public
11 health perspective, but it is also superior to
12 all other alternatives in another respect. The
13 implementation of that alternative, is well under
14 way. The Manchester Water Works has undertaken
15 and may very well be in the final stages at the
16 present time, of their preliminary design and
17 engineering studies. They have already submitted
18 an application to the New Hampshire Public Utilties
19 Commission seeking to have their franchise extended
20 into this neighborhood, an application I might
21 add, is supported by Whispering Pines and we have,
22 indeed, at the owners' and management's own expense,
23 entered an appearance in that proceeding in order
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to encourage the P.U.C. to extend the franchise.
You are dealing with the Manchester Water Works,
with an organization that runs the largest water
supply system in the State of New Hampshire.
They have engineering in place. They have expertise
in place. They know what they're doing. They
don't have to start up from ground zero and they're
moving expeditiously. They have indicated to
" me in personal conferences, and I'm sure have
10 verified it with the State and the E.P.A., that
11 given almost any conceivable circumstances, they
can be on line and delivering water to the affected
13 areas, perhaps as soon as November, but in no
event, later than approximately 12 months. Now
what that means from a public health perspective,
16 is very simple. If one assumes that the only
viable alternative is the well field, and I think
it is for cost reasons, what that means is that
the continuing human exposure to the contaminants
20 in the ground water, will be minimal, if the water
main alternative, alternative number two, is adopted,
22 because if you proceed to consider the third alternative,
23 the well field alternative, you have a number
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1 of complicating and time extending factors. You
2 have to create a new water franchise. You
3 have to do prelminary studies. Ycu have to locate
4 a well field that will be sufficient to satisfy
the needs. You have to assure access to that
6 well field, which means either leasing or acquiring
7 or condeming, if you can't do either of those
8 things, the rights, and every step of the way
9 that we're talking, now you're talking about extensions
of months and months in each step and what the
11 establishment of a separate and independent water
12 franchise, you have all of the start-up expenses,
13 all of the start-up resulting from a Lack of experience,
14 a lack of expertise and basically recreating the
wheel. So I would submit that from a safety,
from a public health perspective, the water main
extension by the water works is the only viable
alternative. It will be the cheapest to implement.
Your engineer's own figures indicate that alternatives
20 two and three are within about a hundred thousand
21 dollars of each other, but in point of fact, your
22 economic computations for the well field alternative,
23 number three, contains no provision for the acquisition
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4 HAMPTON STREET
CONCORD. NEW HAMPSHIRE O33O1
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13014%
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1 of land or property rights, which is necessary
2 to cite the well field and/or to protect it, namely
3 to devise the radius aecessary to protect that
4 well field. Secondly, it assumes you're going
5 to be right, the first time you shoot, and as
6 your engineer has indicated, that is not a guarantee
7 and, in fact, is really an unknown and thirdly,
8 I would suggest that your cost, in that context
9 are assuming a normal progression of study, design,
10 construction and operation, which probably, from
11 a practical perspective, cannot be anticipated.
12 Finally, I would suggest, and I believe your report
13 points this out, that that alternative, the cost
14 computations, do not include a treatment process
15 which may very well, again, be possible, so from
16 a practical perspective, although in black and
17 white, in the NUS study, alternative three, reads
18 cheaper, I would submit to you that, for the reasons
19 that I have just stated, it will not be cheaper
20 and that, in fact, alternative two, will be cheaper.
21 A water main will require minimum maintenance
22 and minimum operating expenses. You won't have
23 to pay for the pumps, that type of equipment,
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1 the new capital structures and improvements and
2 a maintenance by, again, a staff, a new franchise
3 that is on the job and learning. In summary,
4 I would suggest to you and I have written comments
5 which I will leave with you as I leave the podium,
6 that really the only viable alternative, from
7 public health, from public safety, from cost,
8 from speed of implementation, from ease of maintenance,
9 is to extend the Manchester Water Works water
10 main, from its present proximity to the area,
11 into the area, to service the affected properties.
12 Thank you.
13 MR. HOHMAN: Thank you Mr. Hess. You have a statement.
14 Michael and Cheryl Munson. Did you have a letter
15 you wanted to enter into the record? Okay. Bill
16 and Cathy Stearns.
17 MR. STEARNS: Good evening. My name :..s Bill Stearns.
I'm speaking for both me and my wife, Cathy.
19 We're residents of Auburn Road. We live almost
20 directly across the street from the area that
they did the initial excavation back in May and
22 this is the statement that we prepared for this
23 evening. Number one, we favor the installation
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i of the water line as soon as possible, an alternate
2 water supply which we understand will be provided
3 by the Manchester Water Works, Manchester, New
4 Hampshire. One A: Given our concerns of the
5 quality of our current water supply and its contents,
6 we request a report on the quality of the water,
7 siting voltoranic and inorganic compounds, that
8 is to be supplied, as a confirmation that this
9 water is safe and clean and well within drinking
10 standards currently. Number Two: We are aware
11 and realize that the design study and the review
12 of construction and its cost, have begun for the
13 water line alternate. Therefore, if the E.P.A.
14 proceeds with this alternative, what is the estimated
15 completion date in the water supply service to
16 the residents. Two A: Do you forsee any short
17 or long-term problems that could inhibit this
18 process? Two B: Will the residents have an opportunity
19 to review the design study before construction
20 begins? Two C: Until such time that the alternative
21 water supply is implemented, will the E.P.A. continue
22 to monitor the residents and test the residents'
23 well? Three: Given the fact that Manchester Water
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i Works has volunteered and is willing to provide
2 assistance to the residents, the E.P.A. and Londonderry,
3 by providing a water line and E.P.A. has said
4 they favored this option and public opinion has
5 demanded this exclusively, will the E.P.A. go
6 forward and recommend this option, with the commitment
7 of reauthorization of super fund...excuse me,
8 that's without the commitment of reauthorization
9 of super fund. Three A: If so, who will be the
10 primary financers of the water Line? Three B:
11 If the Town of Londonderry is allowed or required
12 to pay for the water line, will they be released
13 of any present and future liabilities? Three
14 C: If it is decided that the town may subsidize,
15 what taxes or charges are they allowed to pass
16 on to the residents, if any at: all. Three D:
17 If the Town of Londonderry and the E.P.A. cannot
18 reach a mutually acceptable agreement on how to
19 finance the water line, will the E.P.A. pursue
20 the other responsible and liable parties for polluting
21 and legally hold these parties also financially
22 responsible for the new water supply alternative.
23 Three E: Does the State of New Hampshire concur
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with the decision for the installation of the
water line and will they contribute ten or fifty
percent for their share. Four: Why has the E.P.A.
not released or disclosed the naires of the other
parties responsible for the contamination and
pollution? For example, the current and former
landfill owners and operators, generators and
transporters of the toxic waste in the landfill.
Four A: What is the E.P.A.'s position concerning
10 the allocation of potential liability regarding
11 the Town of Londonderry. Four B: What are the
12 names of the responsible parties and when will
13 their names be released? Five: As we get closer
14 to the clean-up of the site and with the water
supply alternative decision nearly made, what
16 are the E.P.A.'s guidelines, rules, and regulations,
17 once a super fund site has been cleaned up. Can
the landfill be reopened to be reused as a dumping
19 ground once again? Six: When will the feasibility
20 study be released regarding the remainder of the
clean-up operations to complete the site? Seven:
22 What are the results and analysis of the test
23 of the resident soil sampling done during the
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13CHSOO 13.
excavation, the evacuation of us during May anc
the H? water that existed that existed on the
3 site at that time. Since the E.P.A., we feel
4 that it is imperative that a healthy and clean
5 water be supplied to all residents who are at
6 risk within the Auburn road land fill area. We
7' ' || feel we have been met with enormous injustice,
and that we, the victims, that. had no part in
this situation, we obviously do not hold the E.P.A.
responsibe for the current environmental problems
H that exist there. Since the E.P.A. has now been
I2 involved we feel strongly that it is their job
to rectify and remedy this problem to the utmost
14 satisfaction to the residents, especially taking
15 into great consideration in how to regard our i
16 health and welfare. Therefore, with this in mind
17 and for this to occur, immediate action, and implemen
tation of the new water source is mandatory.
I9 If finances are the major obstacle and hurtle
in facilitating this process, we feel the E.P.A.
should take strong and legal action against the
22 responsible parties involved. Thank you.
23 MR. HOHMAN: Thank you Mr. Stearns. Excuse me for mis
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LEGAL DEPOSITION SERVICE
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pronouncing your name. I didn't read it right
here, when you signed up, so... If you have a number
of questions, as I indicated, after we close
the record, we'll perhaps try to answer some
of those to the extent we can. Mr. Donahue,
do you want to make a statement?
MR. DONAHUE: Thank you, Mr. Hohman. My name is Michael
Donahue. I'm with the New Hampshire Water
Supply and Pollution Control Commission.
I'm the administrator of the Hazardous Waste
11 and Groundwater Protection Division within
12 the commission and I would like to state,
13 for the record, that the commission prefers
14 that E.P.A. choose alternative number two,
15 as the appropriate solution to the problem
16 out at the Auburn Road site. The commission
17 feels that alternative number two is the most
18 expedient remedy available for providing a
19 safe, long-term drinking water supply. Thank
20 you, Mr. Hohman.
21 MR. HOHMAN: Thank you, Mr. Donahue. Harold Lynde,
22 jr.
23 MR. LYNDE: My name is Harold Lynde and I attended
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the meeting last week and first became aware
of some of the basics of your focus feasiblity
study, based upon the information passed out,
gained from that hearing last week and reading
through the record, it appears certainly that
alternate number two is probably the best
and certainly the most certain solution for
the problems identified in your focus feasibility
study. It does this because it provides the
most certain solution, providing clean and
11 safe water to the residents of the Auburn
Road area. In addition, should there be any
13 further contamination off site, in other areas,
it would certainly provide the means for extending
that to any other areas. However, given that
the E.P.A. does recognize that a problem exists,
a potential health threat, which must be addressed
and indeed, I think addressing it the way
we're proposing, will do it, and also given
20 that it's possible that contamination can
exist at undetected levels or it may occur
22 before it's detected and also given the fact
23 that there's some young children living in
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1 the area, it would seem to me that prior to
2 getting that in, in the interim, the E.P.A.
3 should be supplying some clean water in the
4 form of bottled water to those residents,
5 and so I would recommend, basically, that
6 one, alternate two, is your best approach,
7 but in the interim, clean water should be
8 supplied as soon as possible and it seems
9 to me the easiest way for you to do it, is
10 through bottled water. Thank you.
11 MR. HOHMAN : Anyone else that wishes to make a statement?
12 Sue Bowen?
13 MS. BOWEN: My name is Sue Bowen and I live on 87
14 Auburn Road, last name's B o w e n. We've
15 been around the site since 1978, pushing very
16 hard for some form of clean up and I just
17 want to make the comment that my family and
18 I choose alternative number two and would
19 like to ask if I can further comment by mail
20 or in writing, on other issues?
21 MR. HOHMAN: Yes, you can, up until August 14th.
22 MS. BOWEN: Okay. Okay. There's one thing I wanted
23 to bring up which a neighbor just said wasn't
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1 so, but there's a new development going in
2 further down Auburn Road and it comes on to
3 Auburn Road. They're laying some type of
4 pipe and when I stopped to ask them what it
5 was they were laying, they told me it was
6 water line. If, in fact, this is so, there
7 is a section that's already laid that I don't
8 know how much it would deduct from the cost
9 of your proposal. But I don't know for a
10 fact. That was just someone telling me that,
11 you know, a water pipe was laid down, whether
12 it is water or sewer, I'm not sure.
13 MR. HOHMAN: Thank you. Anyone else that wishes
14 to make a statement? Okay, then a final
15 reminder that, as I indicted, the public comment
16 period will be open until August 14th. If
17 you have other comments you want to make,
18 or you want to react to something that you've
19 heard said here tonight, you may comment in
20 writing and anything that is postmarked on
21 or before August 14, will be considered part
22 of the record. I want to th~nk you all for
23 coming. I appreciate the comments and with
that we'll close the formal part of
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