The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has launched a $300,000 cleanup project under its Superfund program, to remove surface soils and debris containing traces of lead, heavy metals and PCBs at the APCO Mossberg Co. site in Attleboro.
Investigations last spring and summer identified the contamination, including discarded capacitors containing PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls), the EPA said. The contamination is suspected to be linked to manufacturing activities previously conducted on the property.
The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection and the City of Attleboro are working closely with the EPA on the project.
The cleanup will entail several steps, including:
collect and analyze samples from the soil and waste piles to further characterize the extent of contamination; and
In the spring, the EPA will excavate and consolidate contaminated debris piles and surface soils, and backfill the excavated areas with clean fill materials. All contaminated materials removed from the property will be shipped off-site for disposal at EPA-approved facilities.
The 11-acre Attleboro site, at 100-101 Lamb St., was the location of the Frank Mossberg Company in the early 1900s. During that time, the company manufactured tools, automobile starters and spring kits. APCO Mossberg Company, Inc. assumed ownership of the property in 1937. Fifty years later, in 1987, the manufacturing building was destroyed by a fire.
The work is expected to take less than nine months. Additional information on the project is available at: www.epaosc.net/ApcoMossberg.
