A Connecticut contractor is being fined for not taking steps to prevent a dock collapse that plunged five workers into the ocean, hurting two in October.
NEW BEDFORD The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is in its final years of cleaning up one of the nation s largest Superfund sites, the New Bedford Harbor, say agency officials.
The EPA held a public meeting Wednesday evening with about 25 members of the public and local government in virtual attendance. Last year, the agency finished underwater dredging, completed shoreline remediation of certain zones, closed cleaning facilities, and planted salt marshes.
This year, the agency will continue shoreline remediation and salt marsh planting along the Upper Harbor on both the New Bedford and Fairhaven sides.
Contingent on funding, the EPA should complete site cleanup in four to five years, said agency Remedial Project Manager David Dickerson in an interview with the Standard-Times.
NEW BEDFORD The 56,000-square-foot U.S. Environmental Protection Agency facility on Hervey Tichon Avenue, used for about 16 years to clean harbor sediment contaminated with probable carcinogens, now belongs to the New Bedford Port Authority.
Mayor Jon Mitchell, accompanied by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and EPA officials, announced the property transfer Thursday at the newly decontaminated facility, calling it an “auspicious moment” for the port, city and region.
In the coming year, the port authority will extend the property s bulkhead at least 600 feet and use it to help with construction for the North Terminal expansion project.
The building, which has immediate rail access, is currently empty, but Port Director Ed Anthes-Washburn said the city may lease the space for commercial fish processing and freezing, adding some people have already expressed interest.