Waltham Vandals Cause Fuel Oil Leak On Fernald Property

WALTHAM, MA — The state Department of Environmental Protection's emergency response unit was called last week to the Fernald property for a report of a fuel spill. When they arrived they found it appeared vandals had somehow damaged a 12,000 gallon tank, releasing the fuel across the parking lot and into the soil.

MassDEP officials said the fuel oil spill appears to have happened a few weeks back but wasn't found until an asbestos abatement company showed up Thursday to do some work on one of the buildings. But, a week later and few at City Hall seemed to know the details of the spill.

"I want to believe there is no public health threat at the moment because of this. I’m sure once we became aware of it, we contained it. But there’s a lot of unanswered questions," said Councilor Diane LeBlanc who only heard rumors of the spill and said she was expecting to hear the official word at the final city council meeting before the summer break.

There was no mention of it.

"Where was the public notification. Where was the simple statement saying what happened?" she said.

According to the MassDEP report, Waltham Deputy Chief Brock Roland let MassDEP know Thursday as required within two hours of the discovery of the diesel fuel spill at the abandoned power facility off of Pine Street. The spill impacted an electrical utility conduit and vault area along with the facility, he told them.

" When we go into something like that we usually try to contain the spill and then do any type of assistance we can with speedy dry," said Lt. Scott Perry spokesperson for the Waltham Fire Department. "If the spill is anything above 5 or 10 gallons we notify the DEP."

In this case, he said the department notified the building department and the wires department.

MassDEP sent their emergency responder Kenneth Sanderson to help provide technical support. According to the report someone authorized LSP Parker to apply, sweep, and remove the fuel drum, and then manage, transport and dispose of fuel-soaked absorbents as needed. The contractor was also given permission to remove up to 100 cubic yards of contaminated soil to help clean up the mess.

"When you have something like this happen you can't just throw the soil or cleanup materials into the landfill," said Perry adding those have to be disposed in a way that is DEP approved.

It's not clear just how much #2 fuel oil, a distillate home heating oil similar to diesel fuel, was in the 12,000 gallon tank when it spilled, according to MassDEP and the Fire Department, which indicated it was investigating in the report. But the report indicates it appears at least 100 gallons were spilled.

"City officials will hire a cleanup contractor, but first they need to coordinate de-energizing the electrical vault before the remediation work can begin," said Ed Colletta of MassDEP.

Sheryl Waddick, environmental specialist for the city's emergency management team was also notified. She did not immediately return request for comment Friday.

It's unclear when the rest of the work will be done or how much it will cost.

The spill was reported June 20 to MassDEP. The report is dated June 21. There is no record of a report of vandalism that day, but there is note in the police blotter of one reported on the property June 22. On June 24, there was no discussion of a spill or talk of transferring funds to pay for cleanup at the last city council meeting before the summer. On June 27 there did not appear to be any clean up crews on the property.

The chairman of the Fernald Use Committee who is also the city councilor for Ward 4 did not immediately respond to request for comment. The mayor also did not respond to request for comment.

At least two city councilors said they had heard rumors of the spill, but knew few details.

Councilor George Darcy said he had only heard about it on Tuesday. He expected it to be on the agenda for the next Fernald Use Committee meeting in July.

This is not the first fuel spill on the 186 acre property owned by the city. Since the 1980s there have been dozens. Between 1980 and 2009 there were some 30 fuel or chemical spills, according to city and DEP data.

In 1993, about 320 gallons of dense No. 6 fuel oil were released at the Power Plant, some of the oil flowed into the nearby stream. The year after that crews spilled 30 more gallons sending the thick fuel into the stream again. An assessment some years back determined there was still contaminated soil near the power plant. In 1997 about 40 gallons of gasoline spilled after a driver backed up into a light stanchion and punctured the van’s gasoline tank.

These spills and environmental contamination on the site, along with lead and asbestos concerns have kept the land from being used as a site for new schools. It's been considered for a site for a new Police or Fire station headquarters.

A TechLaw preliminary environmental site assessment in 2009 found other issues, here are a few examples:

• A 65-year old oil pipeline easement exists on the Property whose condition is unknown.
• Thermal pipe insulation present on pipes in outdoor locations was observed to be in fair
to poor condition; asbestos may be present in the pipes and able to be dispersed by wind
and water. Asbestos siding is also noted present on the former Volunteer Center (282
Trapelo Road) and the former Day Care (180 Trapelo Road).
• A 39-year-old, 750-gallon diesel UST located at the Shriver Center is not equipped with
corrosion protection and could release diesel fuel into the ground.
• No. 2 fuel oil ASTs located in four vacant residential buildings are at least 30 years old,
and the buildings are in poor condition.
• An oil plume appears to be approaching the Property from an upgradient adjacent parcel
on the northwest side of the Property.
• The wetland on the southern portion of the Property may have been impacted by heavy
metals due to an agricultural experiment on the adjacent parcel.

The site used to be a state school that housed and experimented on children with mental disabilities and children abandoned by their parents. In 2014, the city bought the abandoned property from the State.

The city is in the process of restoring a pond in the northwest quadrant of the some 190 acre property, where the cottages once stood. A couple years after the city bought the land from the state, the mayor had asbestos removed from the cottages before they were demolished.
Now, the Fernald Use Committee is waiting on the construction plans so that the bid for the construction work can be put out and the pond can be re flooded.

Leblanc, who is running for mayor, said she wants to know why the fuel hasn't been removed from the tank since the building was abandoned. And the spill, she said, highlights the need for complete and systematic environmental analysis of the entire property that several councilors have been calling for since the city purchased the property. That's the only way, she said, the city can move forward with figuring out what to do with the site.

"The real issue is that this was an accident waiting to happen," she said.

Patch reporter Jenna Fisher can be reached at Jenna.Fisher@patch.com or by calling 617-942-0474. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram (@ReporterJenna).