DEM, EPA file suits to recover Superfund cleanup costs in Lincoln, Cumberland

A RENDERING SHOWS what a proposed federal cleanup of what is known as the Peterson/Puritan Inc. Superfund site in Lincoln and Cumberland along the Blackstone River could look like. State and federal agencies have filed suit to collect payment from the companies they say contributed to polluting the 500-acre piece of property. / RENDERING COURTESY POTENTIALLY RESPONSIBLE PARTIES GROUP
A RENDERING SHOWS what a proposed federal cleanup of what is known as the Peterson/Puritan Inc. Superfund site in Lincoln and Cumberland along the Blackstone River could look like. State and federal agencies have filed suit to collect payment from the companies they say contributed to polluting the 500-acre piece of property. / RENDERING COURTESY POTENTIALLY RESPONSIBLE PARTIES GROUP

PROVIDENCE – State and federal environmental agencies on Thursday filed two lawsuits in the U.S. District Court of Rhode Island seeking financial contributions from dozens of businesses, municipalities and federal agencies it says are responsible for the costs to clean up a defunct hazardous-waste site in Lincoln and Cumberland.

The lawsuits, filed by the state Department of Environmental Management and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, name more than 100 defendants. The 500-acre swath of land, dubbed the Peterson/Puritan Inc. Superfund, includes the former J.M. Mills Landfill, the Nunes parcel and an unnamed island. More than 2.1 million cubic yards of waste was disposed there from 1954 to 1986, according to the lawsuits. The agencies argue the defendants, who used the site for waste management, should pay toward remediation.

“The state seeks to recover costs that have been and will be incurred by the state in connection with responses to the release or threatened release of hazardous substances in the environment,” according to the state’s suit.

Defendants named in the suit include Benny’s Inc., City of Boston, Harvard University, CVS Pharmacy Inc., General Electric Co., Hasbro Inc., Honeywell International Inc., NSTAR Electric Co., Shawmut Corp., Textron Inc., Stop & Shop Supermarket Co. LLC, U.S. Postal Service, U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs and Verizon New England Inc.

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How much the EPA and DEM are seeking is unclear, and a DEM representative declined to comment Thursday afternoon.

However, the federal agency in 2014 estimated a plan to dig out contaminated soil and build a series of caps over the land would cost about $40 million.

An EPA representative could not be immediately reached for comment.

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