In the summer of 2018, the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) and the Town of Dartmouth Board of Health discovered waste material, including buried drums containing unknown materials, at a residential property located at 85 McCabe Street. MassDEP issued a field Notice of Responsibility (NOR) to the property developer. The developer hired a Licensed Site Professional (LSP) and started conducting response actions. During this process, MassDEP learned of potential dumping activities in the Bliss Corner Neighborhood dating back to the 1930s.
During follow on inspections and sampling activities in 2018, MassDEP and the Town of Dartmouth discovered waste material containing lead and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) at three other properties located on Kraseman and McCabe Streets. In May and June of 2019, MassDEP discovered waste material containing lead and PCBs in subsurface soil samples collected from Town of Dartmouth right-of-ways. In July 2019, MassDEP began collecting soil samples from residential properties within the neighborhood. To date, MassDEP has sampled approximately 30 properties.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) provided analytical and sampling support to Mass DEP during their continued residential sampling activities planned for the Bliss Corner Neighborhood in 2020. From July 2020
through June 2021, MassDEP and EPA sampled 46 residential properties in the
neighborhood. From this sampling, the main contaminants of concern identified are
lead and polychlorinated biphenyls, better known as PCBs.
MassDEP requested support for a removal action
at five residential properties in the Bliss Corner neighborhood where elevated
levels of lead and/or PCBs have been identified in surficial soil which pose a
risk to human health and the environment. EPA will cleanup and restore these five properties with completion of work expected in the Spring of 2022.
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