EPA Declares Bay Street Mercury Cleanup Complete

The nightmare on Bay Street is coming to an end, according to an Environmental Protection Agency memo.

Decontamination efforts for the soil lining the Bay Street neighborhood are complete 10 years after contractors uncovered blue soil during the Mount Hope Bay Sewer Interceptor Project for North Tiverton.

In the Sept. 27 letter Thomas Condon, the Environmental Protection Agency on-scene coordinator, said engineers declared the mercury decontamination efforts on Bay Street were ompleted earlier that day.

"This letter serves as notification that the town has fully completed all work required under the terms of the [Administrative Settlement Agreement and Order on Consent (ASOC)], and the town has no further removal obligations under the ASOC," said Condon in the memo that was addressed to Town Manager James Goncalo.

The process to get the neighborhood clean began in August of 2002 after contractors uncovered stockpiles of soil displaying signs of hazardous substances. Since then, the prrcess has been complex and drawn out.

In March 2011, Bay Street and adjacent property owners were slapped with summonses by Tantera Associates, claiming they were not properly paid for the work they did removing the soil, so worked ceased in August 2010. The company awarded the contract to do the entire remediation, Envirologic, LLC, went bankrupt last year, which contracted Tantera to do the actual excavations.