The 500 acre Peterson/Puritan, Inc. site is one of 13 Superfund sites in Rhode Island. From the early-1950s through the mid-1980s, disposal of industrial, municipal, and hazardous wastes -- including chemicals in the sewer system and leach fields, a railroad tanker accident, and landfill operations -- contaminated surface water, groundwater, and soil in two operable units along a two-mile stretch of the Blackstone River in Cumberland and Lincoln, Rhode Island.
Background
The 500-acre Peterson/Puritan, Inc. site encompasses over two miles of industrial and residential property in the towns of Cumberland and Lincoln in north-central Rhode Island. The site "study area" encompasses a wide variety of land uses, including former and active industrial and commercial areas, state and local recreational areas, the Blackstone River, and a former landfill. The site also includes interspersed areas of undeveloped land, floodplain and wetlands. The site covers about two miles between the Ashton Dam to the north and the Pratt Dam to the south. The Blackstone River extends along the western and southern sides of the site.
Historically, site operations included aerosol packaging, chemical manufacturing, warehousing and land filling. Beginning in 1959, the former Peterson/Puritan, Inc. plant (also known as CCL Custom Manufacturing, or CCL) served as a packaging location for aerosol consumer products. A railroad tank car accident in 1974 released about 6,200 gallons of chemical solvent in the facility’s tank farm. Past operations also included the disposal of chlorinated VOCs into a manhole and catch basins associated with the facility sewer system. In 1976, following a fire, the facility owner rebuilt the plant.
The former Pacific Anchor Chemical Company (PAC) facility, located immediately north of the CCL area, manufactured specialty chemicals for use in detergents, cosmetics, agriculture and food industries. Past PAC operations included the disposal of process wastes in three leach fields.
The former J. M. Mills Landfill sits about one mile south of the former Peterson/Puritan, Inc. and PAC facilities. The privately owned 52-acre landfill accepted mixed municipal, industrial and commercial wastes from 1954 to the mid-1980s. Landfill operations also included the disposal of hazardous substances, including hazardous waste and sewage sludge.
During routine sampling in 1979, the Rhode Island Department of Health (now RIDEM) discovered chlorinated VOCs in water collected from the Quinnville well field and Lenox Street municipal well. Subsequent investigations by Peterson/Puritan, Inc. and EPA determined that site activities had contaminated soil and groundwater.
The site was placed on the National Priorities List in September 1983.[1]
The area is divided in two operable units: OU-1 and OU-2. The industrial park known as Peterson/Puritan, Inc. plant, built in 1959, to the north is OU-1 and the privately owned former J.M. Mills Landfill, opened in 1954, to the south is OU-2.
Peterson/Puritan, Inc. was responsible for remediation between the mid-1980s and 1990s, including a settlement with the Town of Lincoln to assist with the costs of a new drinking water supply.[2]
Nearly 100 potentially responsible parties were found liable for cleanup of OU-2 in a in late 2016 settlement worth more than $40 million to clean up "Disposal activities [which] took place from approximately 1954 to the late 1980s during which assorted hazardous wastes and hazardous substances were disposed of at the site. During this time more than 2.1 million cubic yards of waste were disposed of at the site, resulting in contamination of the soil, groundwater, surface water, and sediments. The site was listed on EPA's National Priorities List in 1983."[3] Twenty-two[4] of the defendants were responsible for implementing the remedy selected by the EPA in 2015. "The selected remedy includes excavation and consolidation of contaminated soils and sediments, construction of a multi-layered impermeable cap, institutional controls and long term monitoring." The rest of the parties were required to contribute to a trust to help cover the cleanup costs.
The area covers an extended swath of mostly private land, but also includes a portion of the Blackstone River State Park. The accompanying photos were taken within OU-1 along Martin Street in Cumberland and the Blackstone River Bikeway in Lincoln. Safe parking can be found at the Berkley Oval baseball field in Cumberland. Other publicly accessible areas with parking can be found along the west and south borders within the Blackstone River State Park along the bike path from Ashton Mill in the far north and due west of the Stop and Shop plaza at the southwest corner. (For the latter: From the parking lot east of the Dollar Tree, head south to the bike path and then follow it west to cross over the dam, which is in the absolute southwest corner of the site.)
Sources:
[1] United States Environmental Protection Agency, PETERSON/PURITAN, INC., LINCOLN/CUMBERLAND, RI
[2] Ebook; National Priorities List Sites: Rhode Island; pp 37-38
[3] EPA News Release; "Settlement Reached at the Peterson/Puritan, Inc. Superfund Site in Cumberland and Lincoln, R.I."; 12/23/2016
[4] The settling defendants responsible for performing the cleanup include: ACS Industries, Inc.; Alcoa Inc.; Avnet, Inc.; Clean Harbors, Inc.; Costa, Inc.; Cumberland Engineering Corp.; CVS Pharmacy, Inc.; General Cable Industries, Inc.; Hindley Manufacturing Co., Inc.; Hollingsworth & Vose Co.; International Paper Co.; KIK Custom Products, Inc.; Philips Electronics North America Corp.; Sears Roebuck & Co.; Shawmut Corp.; Supervalu Holdings, Inc.; Teknor Apex Co.; Texas Instruments Inc.; The Narragansett Electric Co.; The Stop & Shop Supermarket Co. LLC; Waste Management of Massachusetts, Inc.; Waste Management Disposal Services of Massachusetts, Inc.; Waste Management of Rhode Island, Inc.; and Wyman-Gordon Co.