Former dry cleaning sites take ‘a long, long time’ to cleanup. This one in Great Barrington is no different
STEPHANIE ZOLLSHAN — THE BERKSHIRE EAGLE
And town leaders are still running what is a yearslong marathon to clean up the plume of pollution left behind by the dry cleaners so they can sell or find a use for the property.
This week, one town official said that he isn’t sure when the cleanup will begin. It will take more than simply excavating more soil, and applying for more grant money, since the pollution runs deep, said Assistant Town Manager and Director of Planning Christopher Rembold.
The dry cleaner operated in the Main Street building for more than 50 years by the Ried family before closing in 2006 when they retired. In their attempt to sell the building, the family discovered the pollution and fuel oil, and had started environmental work. But the extent of the contamination and the expense of a cleanup foiled their plans to sell.
Back taxes owed sent them into foreclosure and the property fell into the town’s hands in 2018, now leaving the town to figure out how to remediate the pollution, which they’ve found has also traveled next door.
Not only has the pollution reached what could be 15 feet deep, but the chlorinated chemicals also have migrated to the post office next door. The U.S. Postal Service continues to monitor air quality after installing filters and doing sealing work in the basement, where contaminated groundwater has pushed vapors inside.
Rembold began writing grants and working on a cleanup plan with the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection. The town received $500,000 from the federal Environmental Protection Agency. At least in part, that paid for an excavation project that Rembold said “removed much of the contaminated soil from the source area,” but can’t get to the deeper pollution.
“Dry cleaning sites,” he told the Select Board at its priority planning meeting, “take a long, long time.”
Rembold has previously said that a full cleanup would run around $1 million.
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