Last night DCAM petitioned the Medfield Conservation Commission for permission to clean up the construction and debris area, which is literally along the banks of the Charles River, and to underscore the importance of the request, Carole Cornelison, the new Commissioner of DCAM attended the meeting. John O’Donnell, DCAM environmental engineer, explained that when testing was done in the Charles River that sampling in the floor of the river disturbed oil that was there, causing an oil sheen on the water, one that disappeared when the disturbance ceased, and that fact is causing DEP to insist that remedial measures be undertaken immediately. The main presentation was made by DCAM’s paid consultants from Weston & Sampson.
The proposal calls for placement of a layer of AquaBlok, a natural clay material, over the oil. The source of the oil is still being investigated. However, it is known that it is not the thick number 6 diesel oil that used to power the now removed power plant that formerly stood on the adjoining river front land.
DCAM also proposed to pull back from the bank of the river the materials the Medfield State Hospital dumped into the river for years, and to form a more normal sloped embankment, which they propose to armor with a combination of plastic sheeting, fill, and rip rap. The work was described as a temporary fix, made necessary now because of DEP insistence resulting from the former presence of the oil sheen. DCAM wants to do this work this year, during the low water flow time in the river, which means either in August or September.
The timing is poor, as the final massive report on DCAM’s multi-year environmental investigations and suggested solutions is due out in early August. When that information is released in several weeks, the Town of Medfield will then have a much better data on which to evaluate the extent of the issues and to rate the solutions that are proposed.
In response to my suggestion to Commissioner Cornelison that the state would be far better off when they undertook such massive land use projects in smaller towns if at the outset they provided the towns monies to do the necessary planning necessitated by the projects so the towns are better equipped to address the multitude of issues, she invited the Town of Medfield to resubmit the request for $100,000 for such funds that had been denied by the last commissioner.
Medfield02052's Blog 