Town frets about traffic, cost of dump cleanup
A decades-old waste dump once called an "underground Chernobyl" and finally due for cleanup starting this fall could burden Tewksbury taxpayers with a staggering bill and heavy truck traffic on residential roads.
Concerned about the cost and the thousands of trucks expected to rumble through the area's narrow streets, stirring dust and causing stress to new pavement, local officials have asked federal and state officials for a temporary access ramp to Interstate 93.
"We would prefer that to having the trucks come through residential areas," Jerry Selissen, chairman of the Board of Selectmen, said this week.
Town officials expect the project will require 11,000 to 16,000 truck trips to haul clean soil and building materials to the wooded site, the former Rocco's Disposal Area, once used by the town as a dump and designated by the Environmental Protection Agency as a Superfund site in 2001. US Senator Edward Kennedy had called it an "underground Chernobyl" when he first sought to add it to the Superfund list in 1992.
In addition to the I-93 ramp, Tewksbury officials are also asking the EPA to expand the list of those potentially responsible for the pollution in order to reduce the town's share of the estimated $31 million cleanup bill. The town is now in negotiations with the other potentially responsible parties to determine their relative shares.
"We feel there needs to be a more concerted effort on the part of the EPA, so we can spread the wealth," Selissen said.
Don McElroy, the EPA's remedial project manager for the site, said on Tuesday that the agency will continue to try to expand the list of potentially responsible parties. After signing off on the final cleanup plan this fall, the "EPA expects to work with [those parties], the state, and the town . . . to determine the best option for accessing the site during construction," he said.
State and federal environmental officials have said hazardous waste dumped at the 100-acre site off South Street could contaminate drinking water and harm wildlife and vegetation in Tewksbury and neighboring towns -- although no such damage has yet been documented.
Public attention to the cleanup is far less intense now than on the day 15 years ago when activists attracted Kennedy to town in an effort to get the former dump designated as a Superfund site. Many of the activists who once targeted Rocco's because of concerns about pollution appear to have since moved on; only a handful of local residents attended an informational meeting on the project in June and a final comment session last month, both run by the EPA.
Robert Ferrari, who publishes tewksburyissues.org, a local affairs blog, said he believes public interest has waned. In his view, the town bears responsibility for the cleanup, just as do all public and private entities that used the dump, but Tewksbury's share should be limited, he said.
"I have a hard time believing Tewksbury is the major contributor," said Ferrari, who has also argued for lower taxes in other municipal spending disputes. "Certainly the bigger names involved should have a bigger share."
At the meetings, EPA officials unveiled cleanup plans for the site, located on the eastern rim of town with a small portion extending into Wilmington.
Contamination exists on 40 acres of the landfill in what are called the north and south lobes, separated by Sutton Brook, and at another area where 300 to 400 drums of chemicals were buried. The drums and associated contaminated soils were removed by 2001.
The area is bounded by a piggery, greenhouses, stables, and more woods to the north; I-93 and the Boston & Maine railroad line to the east; wetlands, conservation land, and town-owned open space and Carleton Road residences to the south; and residences on South Street, Serenity Drive, and Bemis Circle to the west.
The project includes excavation of approximately 750 cubic yards of sediment in Sutton Brook and consolidation in the landfill, which will be capped, and construction of a vertical underground barrier to redirect groundwater. The contaminated soil at the former drum disposal area will also be excavated and placed in the landfill or, possibly, offsite. If necessary, the groundwater will be removed, treated, and discharged into public water treatment works or, possibly, back into Sutton Brook. One or two water treatment plants will be built, officials said.
In 2004, the EPA reached an agreement with 27 transporters, generators, and large and small businesses potentially responsible for the pollution to conduct a feasibility study of possible cleanup methods.
In addition to Tewksbury, the potential polluters include
The site's history dates to 1957, when the town's Board of Health allowed for town waste disposal there. Over the years, it served as a municipal, commercial, and industrial waste dump operated privately by a local family.
The state shut down the landfill in 1987, but residents complained that dumping continued. In 1992, the owner, Jeanette Rocco, and a Billerica neighbor were held in contempt of a Superior Court order prohibiting dumping or processing of materials on the site.
That same year, Kennedy came to town and made his celebrated pronouncement about Rocco's and other toxic sites
Connie Paige can be reached at cpaige@globe.com. 
