Announcements
and Key Topics
Site
Response Pages
The
EPA created response pages for each new Action Memorandum. To view the
first Bliss Corner Neighborhood Site click here. To view the Bliss
Corner Neighborhood Site - Removal Response II click here.
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.
What
Has Been Done to Clean Up the Site?
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 four 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 was completed
in August 2025.
What
is the Current Site Status?
EPA
has completed the cleanup of two out of three properties included in Bliss Corner
Neighborhood III. Remaining activities include completing the cleanup at the
remaining property, transport and disposal of soils from the staging area,
restoration work, and processing data and finalizing reports. Work is expected
to be complete in December 2025.
The
Administrative Record is available for review online at:
or
by scanning 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.
- Southworth Library, 732 Dartmouth St, Dartmouth, MA 02748
