Baker-Polito Administration Awards Grants to Enhance Public Participation and Education of Local Waste Disposal Site Cleanups 

BOSTON — The Baker-Polito Administration today announced $45,000 in grants have been awarded to three municipalities as part of the Technical Assistance Grant (TAG) Program. The TAG Program, administered by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP), provides funding to enhance citizen participation in assessment and cleanup activities at waste disposal sites in their communities. Awards may be used to obtain expert assistance, increase public participation, and provide public education.

“The Technical Assistance Grant Program seeks to assist citizens in understanding the technical information for how site cleanup decisions are based and promotes more informed public involvement in planning for future site cleanups,” said Energy and Environment Affairs Secretary Kathleen Theoharides. “The grants will give local residents a voice in how these sites are assessed and ultimately remediated.”

“MassDEP established the Technical Assistance Grant Program to encourage public participation,” said MassDEP Commissioner Martin Suuberg. “The program is intended to enhance the understanding and engagement of municipal and stakeholder groups in assessment and cleanup activities at disposal sites in their communities with funding for outside expert advice, technical assistance, and site-related education and outreach.”

The grant recipients are:

Town of Barnstable – Up to $15,000 Barnstable will use its award to engage technical expertise to interpret and enhance understanding of the regulatory process and technical objectives of the cleanup needed at the Barnstable County Fire Training Academy disposal site. The site contaminants of concern include per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and petroleum in soil and groundwater.

City of Framingham – Up to $15,000 Framingham will use its award to obtain technical expertise to review and summarize recent reports to the local community, including the translation of documents into Spanish and Portuguese. The disposal site is a former manufactured gas plant site (MGP), located on Irving Street, and contaminants of concern include MGP waste and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in groundwater, surface water, soil, and sediment.

Town of Norfolk – Up to $15,000 Norfolk will use its award to engage technical expertise to evaluate and interpret environmental data that has been collected during previous response actions at the Buckley and Mann site, located on Lawrence Street. The disposal site is a former textile manufacturing plant, and contaminants of concern include polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, metals, and PCBs in groundwater, surface water, soil, and sediment.

“Clean groundwater is critical to Cape Cod, as our communities live above our sources of drinking water,” said State Senator Julian Cyr (D-Truro). “The Town of Barnstable has taken swift and vital steps to address PFAS (polyfluoroalkyl substances) and other chemicals in our groundwater. Grants like the Technical Assistance Grant, that is providing the town with $15,000, are what make these prompt, mitigative actions possible.”

“I am so happy to see that we could help get this Technical Assistance Grant issued to the Town of Norfolk for aid with making our community a safer and cleaner place for all,” said State Representative Shawn Dooley (R-Norfolk).

For more information on the TAG Program, click here. 

MassDEP’s mission is to protect and enhance the Commonwealth’s natural resources – air, water and land – to provide for the health, safety and welfare of all people, and a clean and safe environment for future generations. In carrying out this mission, MassDEP commits to address and advance environmental justice and equity for all people of the Commonwealth, provide meaningful, inclusive opportunities for people to participate in agency decisions that affect their lives, and ensure a diverse workforce that reflects the communities served by the agency.

 

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