Millions from stimulus to clean New Bedford Harbor
By Beth Daley, Globe Staff
New England’s oldest and largest Superfund site in New Bedford Harbor is expected to receive tens of millions of dollars today in federal stimulus funds from Environmental Protection Agency administrator Lisa Jackson.
The $25 million to $35 million for the harbor’s clean-up will be the largest portion of the $600 million in stimulus money designated for Superfund sites across the country.
Jackson is scheduled to travel to New Bedford for the announcement to help scrub probable cancer-causing PCBs and other heavy metals from the harbor's sediment that were dumped there through the 1970s by electronics manufacturers. The area continues to be so polluted that people are warned not to eat seafood from the 18,000-acre harbor and nearby Acushnet River estuary.
Since New Bedford Harbor was placed on the Superfund list, EPA has spent more than $250 million cleaning it up. At the current rate of spending -- about $15 million a year -- the clean-up would have taken another 40 years and $1 billion to finish. Still, the funding being announced today is not expected to finish the job.
Senator Edward M. Kennedy, along with Senator John F. Kerry and US Representatives Barney Frank and William Delahunt wrote a letter to Jackson in February asking for $110 million of the stimulus money for New Bedford over the next two years, calling it one of the most urgent clean-up projects in the country. New Bedford is trying to transform itself into a vibrant seaside city, but redevelopment hinges in large part on the harbor’s clean-up, authorities there have said.
“We’ve been on this mission for more than 30 years, and today we can finally see light at the end of the tunnel,’’ said Kennedy in a statement. Today’s expected announcement “is a welcome vote of confidence that great days still lie ahead for this historic whaling city.”
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Temporary, government-funded sinecure rather than value-creating jobs. What a waste of $1 trillion.
i am glad for the clean up. Maybe some day i can swim there. In my bathing suit.
that place is a pit... filled with crime. there is no cleaning it up.
It's amazing how corporations hide behind manufactured identities to get away with trashing the environment and skipping out on the clean-up costs, just to leave it to us, the taxpayers. I didn't benefit from these activities, nor did I take any profits. Who did? Where are they? Why are they not responsible for the cleanup costs? BTW, can I get a job helping clean this up?
How much more are the taxpayers going to have to sink into New Bedford to see any positive changes? I appreciate them cleaning the harbor as this seems to be the city's only economic asset, but never the less, in New Bedford it's always take and squander, take and squander.
This will be the "Small Dig", millions to friends of pols and labor unions. And once again all from tax payer money. The cost will go up, as always, and the state will have to pay for it with Mass. taxpayers money. Cleaning the Harbor is small change compared to the clean-up needed on Beacon Hill and the Harbor does not smell near as much as the smell from Beacon Hill.
Gee, I wish it went to lasting infrastructure instead of temporary cleaning. Not that NBH doesn't need a good scrub-down, but geez.
It is about time, the EPA steps up and does there share of the clean up. How about giving some of the money to the State for work completed under the State Enhanced Remedy
As a resident, I'm thrilled New Bedford is getting this money. The PCB issue has been bandied about by the EPA for nearly 30 years: they were effective in using it to stifle harbor development, bridge replacement, dredging and a host of other waterfront activities. Now there's finally an Administration that's serious about CLEANUP and not just PR. This will be a tremendous lift to the city's ongoing renaissance...
IT`S ABOUT TIME! This is very good news. I may even come back to visit now..........
This is important. NB is one of only ten deep water ports on the East Coast.
What a wonderful use of federal funds! I hope local people get trained to do the work. Now if Commuter Rail comes, New Bedford can once again be a great city.
While cleanup of the harbor is a good use of taxpayer funds (much better than lining the pockets of AIG executives), it would be much better if the industrial tax that originally funded these cleanups were reinstated.
This blogger might want to review your comment before posting it.
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