Chemicals from a polluted site in Johnston may be leaching into homes. Who owns it?
JOHNSTON – A defunct machine-parts factory that contaminated wells around Peck Hill Road decades ago may again be threatening public health in the area, this time through vapor-forming solvents possibly entering nearby homes and businesses.
Environmental authorities have obtained a warrant to access the 4-acre site on Peck Hill Road near the Scituate town line to determine whether vapors from volatile organic compounds may be leaching into groundwater supplies and then migrating into buildings in the area, creating an inhalation risk to those inside. The intrusion of the vapors into enclosed spaces is similar to what happens to radon gas when it seeps into homes.
Site was contaminated with known carcinogens
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, at the request of the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management, applied for the warrant in federal court to conduct the investigation of the former M.E. Adams Co. Site at 91 Peck Hill Rd.
The property is known to have been contaminated with trichloroethylene, TCE, and tetrachloroethylene, PCE, chemicals linked with a host of health problems through chronic exposure that include negative effects to the liver, kidneys and the immune system.
TCE is a known carcinogen, while PCE has been classified as likely carcinogenic to humans. Last year, the EPA proposed a ban on the manufacture of TCE and a prohibition on almost all uses of PCE because of the negative health effects associated with it.
Who owns the former manufacturing site?
The site includes the main 3-acre property fronting Peck Hill Road, where the manufacturing plant for tools, machine parts and other metal products once operated, and a 1-acre property behind it that was also used by the facility. The plant shut down about 20 years ago.
While the EPA has permission to access the 1-acre parcel, it says in an affidavit filed in U.S. District Court in Providence that it “has been unable to identify an entity willing to admit to ownership” of the main 3-acre site. As such, it had to get a warrant to get on the property.
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Complaints about the site go back decades
Complaints about the facility go back to around 1985, when concerns were raised with the DEM that the business was dumping waste oils and solvents into a trench at the rear of the property.
A subsequent investigation over the next decade found that 20 homes had detections of TCE or PCE in their drinking water. At nine of them, levels exceeded maximum contaminant levels set by the EPA for the chemicals. The contamination was traced back to the M.E. Adams site and confirmed through soil samples and groundwater testing.
In 1994, the Town of Johnston connected some of the homes to its public water supply.
The following year, the DEM signed a consent agreement with M.E. Adams to address the contamination.
“Though little action was taken by the responsible party,” the DEM said in a statement.
In 1999, the EPA connected the remaining residences to the Johnston water supply.
Further rounds of tests of other wells in the area in 2004 and 2015 found no contamination above acceptable levels, according to the DEM.
In regard to the current potential vapor intrusion contamination, the EPA plans to collect soil, water and air samples and take other investigatory actions over a 180-day period starting March 1.
The site is owned by an entity called the Peck Hill Road Trust, but investigators have been unable to find a representative. According to the court filing, the trust owes the Town of Johnston $172,000 in back taxes.
Taxes were last paid in 2019 by Earl Adams, the former owner, according to the affidavit. The property was sold the following year in a tax sale and is currently being prepared for another tax sale.
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: How a polluted manufacturing site is still contaminating RI homes
