NEW BEDFORD The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is in its final years of cleaning up one of the nation s largest Superfund sites, the New Bedford Harbor, say agency officials.
The EPA held a public meeting Wednesday evening with about 25 members of the public and local government in virtual attendance. Last year, the agency finished underwater dredging, completed shoreline remediation of certain zones, closed cleaning facilities, and planted salt marshes.
This year, the agency will continue shoreline remediation and salt marsh planting along the Upper Harbor on both the New Bedford and Fairhaven sides.
Contingent on funding, the EPA should complete site cleanup in four to five years, said agency Remedial Project Manager David Dickerson in an interview with the Standard-Times.
Former New Bedford Seafood Businessman Sentenced to Prison
A Rhode Island man who was part-owner of a New Bedford seafood business has been sentenced to serve three years in prison for tax evasion, U.S. Attorney Aaron L. Weisman has announced.
According to court documents, Billie R. Schofield evaded paying federal income taxes for more than ten years while associated with Northern Pelagic LLC, or NorPel, a seafood processing business located on Fish Island in New Bedford.
Despite earning hundreds of thousands of dollars, Schofield failed to pay taxes owed, and even claimed zero dollars of income in 2008. In 2009, Schofield stopped filing tax returns altogether, according to an indictment filed in Rhode Island s federal court in Providence.
NEW BEDFORD – The US Environmental Protection Agency reported that the past several years have seen significant progress in addressing the polychlorinated biphenyl contamination in New Bedford Harbor.
NEW BEDFORD The 56,000-square-foot U.S. Environmental Protection Agency facility on Hervey Tichon Avenue, used for about 16 years to clean harbor sediment contaminated with probable carcinogens, now belongs to the New Bedford Port Authority.
Mayor Jon Mitchell, accompanied by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and EPA officials, announced the property transfer Thursday at the newly decontaminated facility, calling it an “auspicious moment” for the port, city and region.
In the coming year, the port authority will extend the property s bulkhead at least 600 feet and use it to help with construction for the North Terminal expansion project.
The building, which has immediate rail access, is currently empty, but Port Director Ed Anthes-Washburn said the city may lease the space for commercial fish processing and freezing, adding some people have already expressed interest.
Major milestones for New Bedford Harbor project January 8, 2021, by Eldin Ganic
The U.S. EPA is observing the significant and rapid progress addressing polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) contamination in New Bedford Harbor during the past several years.
EPA’s cleanup work in the harbor has achieved major milestones, resulting in EPA now transferring control of a 5-acre industrial port facility with rail access, formerly used as a sediment dewatering facility within New Bedford’s working waterfront.
This is a significant advance for the City and its ongoing economic revitalization, EPA said.
After more than 17 years of effort, the Superfund dredging of PCB-contaminated sediments in both the upper and lower harbor below the low tide line was finally completed in March 2020.