Note: This information is provided for reference purposes only. Although the information provided here was accurate and current when first created, it is now outdated.

Between April and December 1993, EPA inspected several Massachusetts Highway Department (MHD) facilities in response to an anonymous citizen's complaint and uncovered numerous RCRA violations, including failure to label open and leaking containers, violations of storage requirements, failure to train personnel responsible for managing hazardous wastes properly and failure to prepare contingency plans for their facilities. EPA also discovered that this careless management of hazardous waste was widespread at MHD facilities throughout the Commonwealth and had, in fact, been identified by MHD several years earlier. In September 1994, EPA simultaneously signed an administrative complaint proposing penalties of $3.9 million and a consent agreement settling the case. After lengthy negotiations, the case was settled for a penalty of $100,000 and an agreement to spend $5 million on supplemental environmental projects. In addition, MHD agreed to spend approximately $20 million to audit and remediate, if necessary, all of its 139 facilities. In FY95, EPA approved four SEPs and is reviewing two other SEP proposals from MHD. The approved SEPs were initiated in this past year and have significant environmental benefits. They include the following: City of Lawrence Site Reclamation and Recreational Area Development Partnership Project: $1.5 million has been committed by MHD to assess, cap, close and convert a former incinerator site and adjacent incinerator residue landfill in the City of Lawrence into a multi-use recreation area. The site is located on the bank of the Merrimack River, adjacent to an environmental justice neighborhood, and will be connected to a city "river walk" that continues off-site. Contribution to the Holyoke Initiative: MHD will contribute $750,000 to the Holyoke Initiative, which is being undertaken as part of a cooperative agreement between EPA and the state (a pilot project to integrate federal and state removal and site assessment programs). The funding will be used to assess and remediate two sites in the Churchill neighborhood of Holyoke, an environmental justice area. Government Training: MHD is developing an environmental education program for the state and local highway and public works departments of 351 cities and towns in the Commonwealth, covering the environmental regulatory requirements which typically govern state and municipal maintenance facilities, at a cost of $500,000. Computer-Aided Management of Emergency Operations (CAMEO) Donation and Training: MHD is donating CAMEO software and IBM hardware to run CAMEO, and providing requisite training to 80 local emergency planning committees in Massachusetts, at a cost of $685,000. This project will enable local fire departments and emergency planning committees to more effectively respond to emergency releases of hazardous materials in their communities.