HARC Urges EPA to Reconsider Current Harbor Cleanup Plan

The Hands Across The River Coalition has had no luck convincing the EPA's Regional Office to abandon its plans to bury pcb's in New Bedford Harbor.

So now, the Coalition is taking its complaints to Washington.

Current E-P-A plans call for the burying of toxic pcb's in so-called unlined holes or cad cells close to the Fairhaven shoreline. Coalition President Karen Vilandry has written E-P-A officials in Washinton, asking them to step in.

"We want the cad cell project stopped immediately, and call on the EPA to evaluate an alternative to this process," said Vilandry.

Rather than burying the pcb's, the Coalition would rather they be disposed of in an approved hazardous waste landfill.

In its letter to the EPA's Inspector General, the Coalition also claims the Fairhaven Board of Selectmen in 2010 gave its approval to the cad cell project, while deliberately bypassing the process for any public discussion.