Panel: Critics were ignored

With trucks poised to begin dumping dirt on the former Nike missile site in less than a month, leaders of Needham's Conservation Commission publicly blasted top town and school officials last week for their handling of repeated calls for more environmental testing.

In a Dec. 20 letter sent to School Committee chairman Gary C. Crossen, selectmen chairman James G. Healy, and John P. Connelly, chairman of the Permanent Public Building Committee, commission co-chairman Roy A. Cramer said: "[R]esponsible officials should have been more careful and thorough in determining the appropriate course of action. The general impression that many residents now have is that the issue was not carefully thought out or that other non-environmental agendas affected the process."

Carol Donnelly, a leader of Concerned Neighbors for a Safe Nike Site, said, "We agree. They know something bad is down there and they don't want to remediate it." The group has been critical of town and school leaders for not conducting more thorough environmental tests before declaring the site free from toxic hazards.

"One of the biggest mistakes the town could make is to put dirt there without knowing what they're covering up," said Donnelly.

The Conservation Commission's other cochairman, Carl Shapiro, an environmental professional, wrote his colleagues that it was "in the best interest" of the town to conduct a "more comprehensive environmental site assessment of the Nike missile site for environmental issues that may exist and pose risk to human health, safety and the environment."

More tests would also remove the "shroud of mystery" and "military secrecy that have been pervasive whenever this site is discussed," Shapiro wrote in a Dec. 10 letter that was also sent to town leaders last week.

Shapiro has been advising town officials informally since November over conflicting environmental reports from neighbors and GZA GeoEnvironmental Inc., a firm hired by the town.

Prompted by pressure from the group, the town did additional testing this month that found an underground storage tank containing 2,000 gallons of diesel fuel.

The fuel was removed last Thursday and the tank is in "excellent condition," said Steven Popper, manager of the Permanent Public Building Committee.

Other tests requested by the group -- including more soil sampling, PCB tests, and drilling another ground water monitoring well -- should begin in February. That is contingent on the town obtaining a state OK to clean up lead contamination from a police firing range also on the site, said Popper.

The dispute over testing will have little effect on plans to begin dumping dirt from the high school renovation. Popper said the disposal will take place in a section far away from areas that are subject to further testing.

According to the construction schedule, workers will start surveying the site and planning erosion control efforts Jan. 3.

The access road will be slightly modified the following week, while the clearing and removal of up to 2 acres of shrubs and trees is expected to begin Jan 17.

The first of 60,000 cubic yards of dirt from the renovation is due to be trucked over Jan. 24.

"Anything short of finding a nuclear reactor, they're going to keep going," said Donnelly's husband, Howard. "They have no intention of stopping this project no matter what they find."