Massport buying polluted site

BOSTON – The Massachusetts Port Authority announced that its board had voted to buy a 22-acre site in South Boston that has been owned by the Coastal Oil Co. and was reported to be polluted. Terms of the purchase will be negotiated, Massport announced. After the land is cleaned up it will be used to expand the Conley Freight Terminal, the Boston Globe announced. The purchase is linked with plans by the Brownfields Recovery Corp., which has announced plans to buy an adjacent 35-acre plot from the El Paso Corp. of Houston, Texas. Brownfields, which is led by former regional EPA director John P. DeVillars, intends to clean up the site and then sell the 22 acres to Massport. Brownfields’ stated objective is to build a neighborhood park along East First Street to serve as a buffer between the maritime industry and the residential neighborhood, consisting primarily of double- and triple-decker homes.