DEM DIRECTOR TO TOUR TIVERTON’S BAY STREET NEIGHBORHOOD TO VIEW PROGRESS OF CLEAN-UP WORK THURSDAY

PROVIDENCE – Department of Environmental Management Director W. Michael Sullivan, PhD will tour Tiverton’s Bay Street neighborhood at 2 p.m. Thursday, September 3 to view progress being made in the clean up of contaminated soil on 100 properties in the neighborhood. Sullivan will be joined by local officials, representatives of area residents, and EnviroLogic, the clean up contractor.

Director Sullivan and DEM staff will meet at the Simpson property located at the corner of Judson and Bay streets, and then tour various properties in the neighborhood where the clean up is taking place. Although a formal speaking program is not planned, Director Sullivan and others will be available to answer questions and discuss the progress of the clean up efforts with media.

The clean up comes as a result of a settlement agreement reached between Bay Street area residents, Southern Union Company, the Town of Tiverton, and DEM. The clean up of soil contaminated by coal gasification waste material from the former Fall River Gas Company is designed to bring the affected properties into compliance with DEM’s residential direct exposure standards. Remediation will take place at all residential properties where contamination was found in the Bay Street neighborhood and within the Town’s moratorium on excavation, including town-owned unpaved rights of way adjacent to paved roads. The clean up will be completed this year.

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