Water Contamination Lawsuit Filed by Families Settled

Water Contamination Lawsuit Filed by Families Settled



March 2008 - Dredging of the Aberjona 
River and off-site disposal of contaminated sediments are included in a 
$31 million settlement agreement reached Wednesday between two companies 
and the federal government to handle cleanup at the Industri-Plex 
Superfund Site in Woburn, 12 miles north of Boston 
The Pharmacia Corporation, a successor to the Monsanto Company, which 
manufactured chemicals at the site, and Bayer CropScience Inc., a 
successor to Stauffer Chemical Company, which manufactured glue products 
at the site, must address soil, sediment, groundwater and surface water 
contamination at the site. 
The Industri-plex site is a 350 acre property containing two branches of 
the Aberjona river, streams, ponds, and wetland areas. Contamination at 
the site was the subject of the film, "A Civil Action," which documents 
the lawsuit filed by families who had children with leukemia against three 
companies responsible for contaminating the water. 
The settlement agreement clears the way for work to begin cleaning up 
contamination at the site under the oversight of the U.S. EPA. The site is 
primarily contaminated with heavy metals such as arsenic, as well as 
ammonia and volatile organic compounds such as benzene. 

"This marks the beginning of a new chapter at the Industri-Plex Superfund 
Site," said Ira Leighton, deputy regional administrator of EPA's New 
England office. "The settlement agreement ensures that the site, including 
portions of the Aberjona River, will be cleaned up for the benefit of the 
community." 
"We look forward to working with the settling parties and the community 
over the next several years to implement the site's cleanup," Leighton 
said. 
Chemical and glue operations occurred at the Woburn site for more than a 
century, from approximately 1853 to 1969. The Aberjona River was known to 
be contaminated as early as the mid-1800s. 
In 1922, the Massachusetts Department of Fisheries and Wildlife released a 
photoessay of 150 photographs documenting contamination the entire length 
of the Aberjona River. In 1956, the Aberjona River Commission studied and 
released a report documenting both point and nonpoint sources of pollution 
in the Aberjona River Watershed. 
During the 1970s, the property was purchased for development of a shopping 
mall and an industrial park, which met with community resistance as the 
extent of contamination was revealed. 
The developer had permission from the state agency responsible for 
hazardous waste at the time to excavate and consolidate material on the 
property. In doing so he built a pile of animal hides and wastes, 
commingled with soils containing arsenic, chromium, and lead, which is the 
size of a football field and 40 feet high. The pile sits in a wetland area 
adjacent to two ponds. 
And in 1982 the EPA released the results of a study of extensive ground 
and surface water contamination in the Aberjona River Watershed. 
The Industri-Plex site was added to the national Superfund list in 1983 
due to soil, sediment and water contamination from heavy metals including 
arsenic, ammonia and volatile organic compounds such as benzene. 
This new phase of the cleanup work initiated by the settlement with 
Pharmacia and Bayer CropScience will include dredging and off-site 
disposal of contaminated sediments. The companies must establish 
institutional controls to restrict contact with contaminated soils, the 
groundwater and the sediments. 
Workers will construct wetlands to compensate for wetlands impacted by the 
cleanup, and finally the companies must conduct long-term monitoring of 
the groundwater, surface water and sediments to ensure that cleanup 
measures continue to protect human health and the environment. 
The comprehensive cleanup costs are estimated to be approximately $25.6 
million. In addition, the settlement calls for the settling parties to pay 
for all future federal oversight expenses and recovers $6 million in past 
response costs incurred by the federal government at the site.

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