Why Would Anyone Agree to This Plan?

The topic of has come front and center to our area and to say that there is "a whole lotta spinning going on" would be an understatement.

A "whole lotta" people are under the impression that EndCap Technology just wants to come into Attleboro, bring in some "soil," cap the landfill and leave. Wrong! EndCap has agreed to cap the back portion of the landfill, but only if Attleboro allows the re-opening of the site to the company for three to five years. This would allow EndCap to dump contaminated material in the area, then the company would cap the landfill with the three to five years worth of contaminated material included. Why would anyone agree to such a plan?

A "whole lotta" people believe that EndCap is just bringing "slightly contaminated soil" to the area. Wrong! The current plan calls for EndCap to dump 650,000 cubic yards of contaminated construction and demolition debris, catch basin debris, street sweeping debris (lead?) and dredge material. These items would come from several different states on the East Coast.

Why would Attleboro ever agree to such a plan?

The word on the street is that there would be 35 huge construction trucks per day (27,000 in total over the period of the project), traveling outbound up Peckham Street to Pike Ave to Pleasant St (at rush hour) to Holden Street to Route 152. The reality is that the number is 35 to 70 trucks per day, according to the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection. This is closer to 50,000 trucks in total—maybe more.

Why would anyone ever agree to let anyone pour three to five years worth of contaminated material into an already contaminated area that is in close proximity to thousands of human beings, particularly when the area already sits directly next to a superfund site? Just think about it. This defies logic.

Now for "the rail proposal." I am told by the Massachusetts DEP that this would be a 10- to 12-year project of dumping contaminated material into this area because of the cost to all involved who need to make a profit. Can you even imagine the size of the pile of material to be covered, after 10 to 12 years? Incomprehensible ...

The landfill could be capped, as is, but the owner is claiming he has no money to do that.  If it were you or me, we would be forced to sell our homes and everything but the clothes on our back to pay for what would be our responsibility, wouldn't we?  

This plan was agreed to with no input from the residents of this city who will be affected in many ways regarding health and safety. The value of our homes in this area and on the truck route would be zero. To think that such a plan was even considered without any discussion with the thousands of residents who would be affected is, again, incomprehensible. 

I don't know about you, but as a person with severe respiratory issues, I don't want to be inhaling contaminated dust from this debris for three to five years just to take care of someone else's responsibility and profit margin. Think of the families and children in this area and beyond. Does anyone at understand that asthma and other respiratory diseases are epidemic and that environmental inhalants are a large contributor to this?

The Massachusetts DEP has ordered the back portion of this landfill to be capped. We are told that for health reasons, this must be done. However, this plan reminds me of a scenario in which a person is diagnosed with a serious disease. A doctor must decide how to treat the disease without killing the patient. Is the treatment more dangerous than the disease? I contend that this plan is more dangerous in many ways than the uncapped landfill. 

Does capping the landfill remove the problem of contamination running onto and into the ground? If you think that it does, take a look at the picture that I have attached. It is a dead baby turtle lying in a pool of oily material at the base of the capped portion of the landfill. What does that tell you about the effectiveness of capping an unlined mound of contaminated material?

We in this area have lived with this nightmare and its health effects for many, many years, and it is not acceptable to add anymore contamination to this area, any more than it is acceptable to declare Pike Avenue as a truck route.

Make the owner of this health hazard take financial responsibility for this.  If he won't, then maybe the city will have to take the land and cap what needs to be capped, the best that can be done with an unlined landfill. Is it expensive? Yes, but the effects of many more years of new contamination has a cost far greater than money. It is called quality of health and life for the families who live in this area and beyond, as we all know that these affects are far reaching in many ways.

What on earth was anyone thinking? Why would we ever? ...

Roxanne Houghton is a former member of the Attleboro City Council.