Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey.
Creation of an illegal dump on Old Ferry Road in Methuen is costing two companies $300,000 to settle with the state.
NASDI, of Woburn. and Gigs, of Windham, N.H., agreed to pay $275,000 and $25,000 respectively to settle allegations of illegal dumping of construction and demolition waste at an unpermitted site in Methuen, Attorney General Maura Healey said Tuesday.
“Illegal dumping compromises the health and safety of the public and the environment and we will continue to take action against those who put them in danger,” Healey said. “We are pleased this settlement will help pay for the much-needed cleanup of this site.”
According to the complaints filed against each company, along with consent judgments approved in Suffolk Superior Court, the companies allegedly violated the state’s solid waste management laws by dumping more than 200 loads of concrete and other construction and demolition waste debris, much of which was hauled by Gigs for NASDI, to the unlawful dump site between the fall of 2007 and summer of 2008.
According to the complaints, Thomas Battye, the former owner of the Methuen dump site on Old Ferry Road, never applied for or received a site assignment from the Methuen Board of Health, required before operating a solid waste dump there, and did not receive the necessary solid waste management facility permit from the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP). Battye passed away in November, 2015.
MassDEP inspections in 2008 revealed vast amounts of construction debris containing concrete and asphalt and other waste materials had been dumped at the site.
“Massachusetts has protective regulations concerning the proper disposal of solid waste,” said MassDEP Commissioner Martin Suuberg. “Violations will result in the state pursuing those cases with enforcement and penalties.”
All but $10,000 of NASDI’s $275,000 fee is to be paid into a special fund to further evaluate and clean the Battye site. The remaining amount is being paid as a civil penalty. The consent judgment reached with Gigs required the company pay the state $25,000, with $20,000 to go to the fund for cleanup of the Battye site, along with a $5,000 civil penalty.
Healey’s Office is also pursuing claims against additional waste haulers and demolition contractors who dumped or contracted for solid waste disposal at the Battye site. In December, 2013, Dynamic Waste Systems agreed to pay more than $93,000 to settle claims it illegally dumped multiple loads of construction and demolition waste at the Battye site. In April, 2015, W.L. French Excavating Corp. paid $62,500 to settle claims that it illegally dumped multiple loads of construction and demolition waste there. Stockbridge Corp. and Mattuchio Construction Co. also agreed to pay as much as $50,000 and $72,000 respectively to the state to settle similar claims.
Assistant Attorney General Andrew Goldberg of Healey’s Environmental Protection Division handled the case, with assistance from MassDEP Environmental Analysts Mark Fairbrother, John MacAuley, Karen Golden-Smith, and Elizabeth Sabounjian, and MassDEP attorney Colleen McConnell, all from MassDEP’s Northeast Regional Office.