Pond View Cleanup Contract Imminent?

A contract to clean up the closed TLA Pond View recycling facility in East Providence, which is in receivership, is expected to be signed this week -- with the former owner of the company that was shut down six months ago.

Bruce Gladstone, the attorney for the owner of the property, Ken Foley, said in a Providence Journal story that Foley is working out the details with the RI Department of Environmental Resources to finally clean up the site at the end of Dexter Road near Omega Pond in Rumford.

The contract calls for a 60-day cleanup with a two-week preparation period, East Providence city solicitor Timothy Chapman said in the newspaper story.

Foley’s involvement in the cleanup is not without its critics, including Chapman. The solicitor said at a hearing in Superior Court last week before Judge Michael Silverstein that Foley’s involvement is inappropriate.

A neighbor, Jo-Ann Durfee, also said in a letter to Attorney General Peter Kilmartin that the contract to clean up the debris is being awarded to the person who created the mess, according to the story.

But Terrence Gray, DEM’s associate director for environmental protection, said the agency is negotiating with Foley to get the cleanup done as efficiently and effectively as possible. He reportedly has railroad access at the site, which is less costly and less time-consuming than using trucks.