Site Background
In July 2018, Massachusetts Department of
Environmental Protection (MassDEP) responded to an odor complaint at an
unoccupied residential lot at 85 McCabe Street in the Bliss Corner Neighborhood
of Dartmouth, MA. MassDEP identified buried waste material and subsequently
executed soil sampling for PCBs. Historical records were uncovered shortly thereafter that revealed that refuse dumping had been occurring in the Neighborhood since
at least the 1930s. In May 2019, MassDEP conducted sampling at 18
additional properties in the Neighborhood. On half of these properties, a
subsurface layer consisting of coal ash, glass (including fragments and intact
containers), brick, and coal-clinkers was discovered, which came to be a
defining characteristic of the contaminated properties. High levels of lead and
PCBs were measured in several locations as well. MassDEP initiated a third sampling
initiative in September 2019 at volunteer residential properties across the Neighborhood. The sampling results indicated a wide range of lead and PCB
concentrations, many of which exceeded the EPA lead Removal Management Level
and the MassDEP PCB Imminent Hazard Level. In October 2020, EPA received a
request from MassDEP to provide residential sampling assistance, and from July 2020 through June 2021, EPA and MassDEP sampled almost
50 additional properties. In June 2021, MassDEP requested support
from EPA to conduct removal actions at residential properties in the Bliss Corner Neighborhood.
Bliss Corner Neighborhood Site
From the time of MassDEP's initial request for removal action support in June 2021 through June
2024, EPA conducted removal actions at fourteen properties to address lead and
PCB contamination in soil. Requests for exemptions to monetary and temporal statutory
limitations were necessary on three occasions to continue removal actions at
additional properties, including residential properties, a town right-of-way, and a school.
Bliss Corner Neighborhood Site Removal Response II
Bliss Corner Neighborhood Site Removal
Response II is a continuation of the work completed under the Bliss Corner
Neighborhood Site moniker and addresses four additional residential properties
in the Bliss Corner Neighborhood. Two of these properties were selected due to concentrations
of lead measured on the properties at more than three times the EPA Removal
Management Level while the additional two properties were selected due to a
combination of factors, including high lead concentration, presence of PCBs,
and proximity to properties in the Neighborhood known to exhibit extremely high
concentrations of PCBs prior to actions taken by EPA to address contaminated
soil. Work began to address contamination at these four properties in July 2024
and is expected to be completed in December 2024.
The Administrative Record is available for review online at:
or using this QR code.
Locations to access the online Administrative Record include:
- U.S. EPA SEMS Records and Information Center, 5 Post Office Square, Suite 100, Boston, MA, 02109-3912, (617) 918-1440, by appointment.
