All News Releases By Date

Fitchburg: Air Monitoring at Cleanup Site Found No Asbestos Contamination

Release Date: 03/07/2003
Contact Information: Alice Kaufman, EPA Community Involvement Office, 617-918-1064

BOSTON - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has entered into a consent agreement for cleanup of asbestos and other hazardous materials with a former owner of the Fitchburg Gas and Electric Plant on Sawyer Passway. As a condition of the agreement, the former owner, Unitil (formerly Fitchburg Gas and Electric Light Company) must provide air monitoring to ensure that site workers or nearby residents are not exposed to hazardous materials from the cleanup work. Although flyers handed out around the Fitchburg area by a local union warn residents that asbestos may be contaminating the area, air monitors have found no indications of problems stemming from the cleanup. The Aulson Company of Methuen, Mass., has been hired to remove asbestos and other hazardous waste by Unitil's prime contractor, GZA of Norwood, MA. More information is available by calling the EPA On-Scene Coordinator, Mary Ellen Stanton, at 617-918-1256.