EPA Adds Attleboro Site to Superfund LIst

Federal officials have decided to spend the money needed to clean an Attleboro property contaminated with chemicals through decades of pollution by a previously existing chrome-plating plant. The site is located in the immediate vicinity of 78 North Ave.

The Environmental Protection Agency announced Tuesday that it has placed the former Walton & Lonsbury Inc. property on the National Priorities List, which makes it eligible for financing from the Superfund program. State and federal officials said at an April 2012 meeting that the cleanup would cost "tens of millions of dollars," an amount only the federal government could afford.

The Attleboro location was one of two in Massachusetts named to the list Tuesday. The other one is in Danvers.

"These heavily contaminated sites in Attleboro and Danvers will one day be clean enough to be redeveloped and help boost the Massachusetts economy," said Massachusetts Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Rick Sullivan in a press release. "We thank our partners at the EPA for listing these sites as priorities, helping us to protect our residents and the environment."

City Council President Frank Cook applauded the decision during the Tuesday council meeting. U.S. Rep. Joe Kennedy III, whose district includes Attleboro, also praised the situation in a statement.

"I applaud the EPA for making Walton & Lonsbury a national priority," he said. "Being included on the Superfund list represents a major step forward in the process to clean up this hazardous site and helps ensure that Attleboro will have the resources it needs to protect the health and safety of its citizens. I look forward to working with the EPA and the city of Attleboro on the continued cleanup of this site."

The contamination includes lead, chromium and degreaser solvents that had been used to clean parts before they were chrome-plated. It was spread mostly through flooding, environmental officials said last year. From 1940 to 1973, the company had dumped the pollutants into a nearby stream, an action that was legal at the time. The plant closed in 2007.

The structure was demolished and a federal government-funded cleanup in the immediate vicinity began in 2010 that will end up costing about $12 million (separate from the "tens of millions" that the additional effort will cost). Soil and water sampling led to the determination the pollution went beyond the immediate area. The extent of the contamination will be determined soon through a study.

There is no short-term danger, environmental officials said last year. However, long-term contact with the pollutants could lead to health risks.