TIVERTON — It took a year and a day of hard lobbying for E.N.A.C.T. President Gail Corvello to see a second-round of testing in her North Tiverton neighborhood, and the New England Gas Co.'s approach hardly satisfies her. Testing began last week and will take a couple of months for Vanasse Hangen Brustlin, the consultants hired by New England Gas. Co., to complete.
"While this round of testing is finally here, albeit ridiculously overdue, an inconsistent approach is a huge mistake," said Mrs. Corvello, who criticized the approach VHB has taken to selecting sample locations and chemicals analyzed.
In this second round of testing, some properties will get one boring, while others will be tested with as many as 17 borings. Mrs. Corvello believes that 20-foot grid patterns across the entire study area would better insure that all properties believed to be a dumping area for a defunct coal gasification plant are thoroughly investigated.
"Residential properties are used in their entirety and need to be investigated considering all possible current and future uses and improvements," she said.
Mrs. Corvello is also disappointed with the work plan's method of determining which chemicals are tested on each property. According to the plan submitted by VHB, chemicals such as cyanide, mercury and total petroleum hydrocarbons don't have to be tested for unless evidence of their presence is visibly obvious to the field scientist's naked eye. Although mercury was detected in the previous round, mercury testing is only required if the field scientists observe felt material left over from the former Bristol County Hat Factory (mercury was sometimes used in the hat manufacturing process). Cyanide testing is not required unless there is blue coloration in the soil.
"In the last round of testing, there was cyanide present in 143 of the borings. Only six of those boring logs had the color blue in the description of visual observances of the soil," said Mrs. Corvello.
The Department of Environmental Management approved the work plan and may require additional testing in the future depending on what contamination this second round turns up.
