Mass. Town Agrees to Clean Up at Recycling Facility

Residents of Hardwick, Mass. agreed to spend $45,000 to clean up a contaminated site in the town where the town's recycling center is located.

Voters also agreed to fund $13,000 to pay fines to the state imposed because the site has not been completely cleaned up for several years.

Selectmen said last week that they "absolutely" did something wrong when they accepted the contaminated parcel, commonly known as Scoops, in 1997 in lieu of payment of a loan by Hardwick Kilns. The site housed a garage, oil and other contaminants believed to have been disposed of on the land.

The town must clean up the site and is under an order from the state Department of Environmental Protection to fix the problem next year.

The town has been paying the state of Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection annually to extend the period allowed for the cleanup but that process will end in the spring, selectmen have said. Now the project must begin in earnest.