National Fireworks next? Here's some things to know about Superfund sites on South Shore

Hannah Morse, The Patriot Ledger
·6 min read

Three South Shore towns are ready for the National Fireworks site to finally get the resources needed to clean up the munitions, fireworks and toxic waste that have contaminated the site for decades.

But before any money from the Superfund program can be allocated to clean up the 280-acre site in Forge Industrial Park, the state and federal government needs to continue its assessment of the property and Gov. Maura Healey must write a letter of support.

The earliest that this site in the Hanover-Hanson-Pembroke area could be pitched to join the Environmental Protection Agency’s National Priorities List is August 2025.

Should that happen, the National Fireworks site could become Massachusetts’ 42nd official Superfund site.

More: Could polluted National Fireworks site in Hanover become a Superfund site?

The Superfund program was created by the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act in 1980 in response to a number of toxic waste disasters in the U.S. The program is funded by taxes on chemical and petroleum industries.

An inaugural class of 406 sites in 1983 made up the National Priorities List, including more than a dozen properties in the Bay State.

There are 1,340 sites that are listed across the country as of March 7, not including those that have been “deleted.”

As these South Shore towns move ahead toward a long road of recovery, here are some facts and history about Superfund sites in Massachusetts, according to information from the EPA.

Does the South Shore have any Superfund sites?

The South Shore has four Superfund sites either listed or "deleted" from the National Priorities List. Deleted means that all of the remedies picked for the sites are complete and cleanup goals have been reached.

The Neponset River site was the most recent in Massachusetts to be added to the National Priorities List in 2022. The sediment in this 3.7-mile section of the river has high levels of polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs.

The Plymouth site was one of the first sites added to the National Priorities List in 1983 and was deleted from the list in 1993. It was a 2.5-acre business and industrial site that held aboveground storage tanks with low levels of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, or PAHs. Initially, the site stored fuel and oil from barges, and later stored other hazardous substances like cyanide and pesticides.

The South Weymouth Naval Air Station was listed in 1994. The 1,444-acre base was commissioned in 1942 to support 48 blimps that patrolled for submarines. After the war, it was used as an aircraft storage site. The base has a number of contaminants including PCBs, PAHs, arsenic and polyfluorinated substances, also known as PFAS or "forever chemicals." Part of the site has been approved for redevelopment, including apartments and commercial space.

The Baird & McGuire site on 20 acres was a chemical mixing and batching company from 1912 to 1983. It also disposed of materials directly into the soil, wetlands, a brook and a gravel pit. The site was added to the list in 1983.

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

Where are the most Superfund sites in Massachusetts?

Middlesex County is home to the most Superfund sites in Massachusetts, which is today the state’s most populous county. There are 16 sites in all. They include two military installations, landfills, chemical manufacturers and other industrial users.

What were the first Superfund sites listed on the National Priorities List in Massachusetts?

There are 14 properties in Massachusetts that were among the first to be put on the National Priorities List on Sept. 8, 1983:

These sites served a number of purposes, including oil and solvent storage, facilities for textile production and chemical reclamation and transport, storage and incineration of hazardous wastes.

Some of these sites had wetlands, aquifers and municipal drinking wells that were contaminated from nearby businesses.

The two Cannon Engineering Corp. sites are the only ones among the inaugural sites listed that have been deleted from the National Priorities List. The remaining sites continue to be cleaned up or have been approved for specific redevelopment uses.

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

How many Superfund sites in Massachusetts have been 'deleted'?

In all, eight sites that were once on the National Priorities List have been removed. This means that all of the remedies picked for the sites are complete and cleanup goals have been reached.

But there’s an important caveat.

“This does not mean that the site is free of contaminants, but that the response actions taken have addressed potential exposure pathways” to humans and the environment, an EPA spokesperson said.

Some sites receive five-year reviews to make sure that humans and the environment continue to be protected:

It’s important to note that the site in Watertown was only partially delisted, meaning that only part of this site met the criteria to be removed. The site was first established by President James Madison in 1816, used initially to store and repair small arms. In the mid-20th century, this was where the U.S. Army completed its first material research nuclear reactor.

Can deleted Superfund sites be redeveloped? What about ones that are still on the National Priorities List?

Short answer: yes.

The sites deleted from the National Priorities List went on to hold single-family homes, a parking lot for a commuter rail station, commercial space and even became a National Wildlife Refuge.

Even if a site has been deleted from the list, the EPA can still place what are called “institutional controls” on the property. This permanently limits what can be built on the site or how the site can be used in order to protect humans and the environment. This was the case for the site in Watertown.

The majority of Superfund sites in Massachusetts that remain on the list today have also gone through redevelopment through another term called “ready for reuse.”

This means all or part of the site can be deemed appropriate by the EPA for certain types of uses while the remedies continue to protect humans and the environment.

“In some cases this may mean other portions of the larger site may still be undergoing remedial activities,” an EPA spokesperson said.

Union Point, built on the former South Weymouth Naval Air Station, has 1,274 residential units, 73,000 square feet of commercial space, 25 acres for sports and recreation and an MBTA parking lot.

Some other examples of how these listed sites have been redeveloped include solar arrays, restaurants, a police station and wetlands.

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

This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Questions and answers on Superfund sites on the South Shore and Massachusetts