3 South Shore towns say they've lived with toxic waste for long enough. They want help

Three South Shore towns long impacted by the contaminated National Fireworks site plan to ask Gov. Maura Healey to recommend that it be designated as a Superfund site.

On March 4, the Hanover Select Board unanimously approved a letter to the governor outlining this request. The Pembroke Select Board voted in January to indicate its support of the designation, and Hanson Select Board members will vote March 12, after saying they wanted to go through the Environmental Protection Agency's process.

“I’m excited about pushing this forward,” Hanover Select Board Chair Vanessa O’Connor said.

The governor’s letter of recommendation is required as part of the process to add a site to the National Priorities List and receive Superfund dollars. While letters of support from the towns are not necessarily needed, they help the governor understand what the local elected leaders want.

What is Superfund? And how is a site added to the National Priorities List?

The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act of 1980 funds the Superfund program through a tax on chemical and petroleum industries. The program was created in response to a series of hazardous waste incidents, including the dumping of toxic chemicals at the Love Canal landfill in New York that led to birth defects and miscarriages. Contaminated sites must qualify to be added to the National Priorities List and therefore receive money to clean up the hazards.

The site would go through various rounds of inspection and testing by EPA officials. Information gleaned from these assessments would be used to score the site's threat level posed to human health and the environment. If the site scores high enough, the information, along with the governor's letter of support, would be published in the Federal Register and residents would have an opportunity to comment on whether the property should be added to the National Priorities List. After, the EPA will announce its decision in the Federal Register.

What is the National Fireworks site?

This 280-acre site in Forge Industrial Park was a manufacturing, testing and dumping ground for munitions, fireworks and toxic waste between 1907 and 1970. Mercury, lead and other contaminants have been found in the soil and groundwater. Live munitions were discovered and detonated on-site for several years. Residents are warned against eating the fish caught in Factory Pond.

The cleanup thus far has been partially funded by a settlement from a former property owner and overseen by the state Department of Environmental Protection, but the money is not enough to finish the job. The state attorney general's office had tried to negotiate a way for the remaining partially responsible parties to pay for the cleanup, but those talks stalled. Hanover lauded MassDEP's efforts in its letter to Healey, saying the department "has overseen with its expertise and stewardship the cleanup with excellent results."

More: How do you solve a problem like polluted National Fireworks site? Time and lots of money

Yet an additional $200 million, on top of the $74 million earmarked or spent, will be needed to finish the work.

Officials from the EPA and MassDEP held public meetings in January that allowed residents to learn and ask questions about the Superfund process.

The earliest the site could be proposed to be added to the list is August 2025.

How many Superfund sites are in Massachusetts?

Massachusetts has 41 Superfund sites, most of which have been approved for reuse purposes such as solar fields, an athletics field, a biomanufacturing facility and municipal buildings. Eight of the sites have been removed from listing after no further response was needed.

The newest site in the state to be added to the National Priorities List was a 3.7-mile section of the Lower Neponset River, which runs through parts of Boston and Milton. The river's sediment is contaminated with carcinogenic polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs. Then-Gov. Charlie Baker sent a letter of support to the EPA in June 2021, and the site was added to the list in March 2022.

More: Neponset River cleanup plan will take two years, EPA official says

Hannah Morse covers growth and development for The Patriot Ledger. Contact her at hmorse@patriotledger.com.

This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: When National Fireworks could get on Superfund list