Background
The Associated Electric Site (the
Site) is approximately 9.5-acres located at 171 West Main Street in a
suburban/residential area in Hillsborough, NH including
three wood-framed buildings on concrete slab-on-grade, with metal roofs and
metal siding.
Associated Electric repaired
industrial electric and mechanical equipment, machine parts, rewinding
turbines, generators, and motors. The Site is surrounded by an abandoned
residential property to the west (near the capped Hillsboro Municipal Solid
Waste Landfill by woods), to the east by Site are commercial properties, and to
the south by West Main Street near commercial properties and the northern bend
of the Contoocook River. From 1920 to the 1980s, the Site contained a laundromat
which added dry cleaning operations in the 1970s. In the early 1980s, Hillsboro
Laundry and Cleaners closed. In 1983, Associated Electric Company leased a
portion of the property. In 1996, Rosewald Industries, LLC, purchased the
property from a former President of Hillsboro Laundry and Cleaners and
Associated Electric, a previous tenant of Hillsboro Laundry, continued its
tenancy and activities as a former operator until 2002 and later dissolved. The
property owner, Rosewald Industries, LLC, also dissolved in September of 2004.
Currently, one of the three buildings serves as a storage building for the
town, while hazardous substances in drums and containers containing oils, mixed
and remain from the previous owner and operator.
In June 2022, the Site property was taken by the town of
Hillsborough, due to tax foreclosure. In May through September 2023, a Limited Phase II Environmental Site
Assessment was conducted to investigate groundwater, surface water, stormwater,
sub-slab vapor, and indoor air, as well as a ground penetrating radar survey. On October 16, 2023, NHDES requested EPA’s
assistance to remove drums and containers filled with unknown substances
believed left on-site by the previous owner and operator.
Between February 27-29, 2024, EPA mobilized to
the Site to conduct representative sampling of the drums and containers and
soil gas sampling.
Response Activites:
August 14, 2024: EPA OSC, ERRS, START, and NHDES conducted the initial site walk.
August 26, 2024: EPA OSC, START, and ERRS mobilized personnel and equipment to the site to stage and sample the containerized wastes and drums, as well as other actions as described in the Ac Memorandum
August 27 - 29, 2024: 56 drums and other small containers were moved to staging area. 72 samples were collected for HAZCAT analysis.
September 1, 2024: Samples were collected by ERRS contractors for lab analysis. Drums were secured in the building to await transportation and disposal (T&D). All EPA and contractors temporarily demobilized from site.
December 19, 2024: OSC, START, and ERRS mobilized to the site for one day with the subcontractor to pack small containers into lab packs.
January 13 - 15, 2025: OSC, START, and ERRS mobilized to the site for consolidation and stabilization of drums for T&D. The T&D subcontractors loaded five trucks with drums.
NH DES and Town of Hillsborough representatives attended a final site walk on January 15, 2025 and keys were returned to the town.
All EPA and contractor personnel have been demobilized from the site.
January 28, 2025: ERRS demobilized remaining equipment from site.
June 22, 2025: All wastes have been received by final disposal/treatment locations. All funds have been deobligated.
