OR&R’s Assessment and Restoration Division Highlights Restoration Efforts at New England Waste Sites

NOVEMBER 30, 2018 — OR&R’s Ken Finkelstein, Jim Turek of the National Marine Fisheries Service Restoration Center, and Grant Blumberg of NOAA’s General Counsel participated in a public meeting on November 19 in Stratford, Connecticut. 

Two men standing in a field.
Jim Turek (left) of the NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service - Restoration Center and Grant Blumberg of the NOAA General Counsel at the Stewart McKinney National Wildlife Refuge where salt marsh restoration will occur using Natural Resource Damage funds from the Raymark Superfund Site and the Lordship Point State hazardous waste site. Image credit: NOAA.

At the meeting, the Draft Restoration Plan and Environmental Assessment  of the Lordship Point Gun Club site, a former skeet shooting range, and Raymark Industries site, a former car parts manufacturer in Connecticut, was presented.

At the New Bedford Harbor Superfund site, Jim Turek and Ken Finkelstein met with Dave Dickerson, EPA Remedial Project Manager, to tour and discuss ways to remove the PCB contamination in the harbor that borders Phragmites wetlands (Phragmites is also known as common reed, a non-native, perennial, aggressive wetland grass) and mitigate and restore with native vegetation. New Bedford Harbor is a major commercial fishing port and industrial center in southeastern Massachusetts on Buzzards Bay. From the 1940s to the 1970s, manufacturers discharged wastes containing PCBs and toxic metals into New Bedford Harbor. This resulted in high levels of contamination throughout the waters, sediments, plants, and wildlife of the Harbor and parts of Buzzards Bay.

For further information, contact Ken.Finkelstein@noaa.gov.

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Heavy equipment at water's edge.
New Bedford Harbor hybrid dredge and hopper at the northern edge of the harbor. Image credit: NOAA.
View of a salt marsh, recently planted.
EPA salt marsh mitigation along the Fairhaven side of New Bedford Harbor. NOAA will provide recommendations for more of these primary restoration activities. Image credit: NOAA.
Last updated Tuesday, November 8, 2022 1:50pm PST