48 Firms to Pay $33.1-Million in Dumping Cases

The federal government said Wednesday it has reached a $33.1-million settlement with 48 companies over illegally dumped waste at four New England sites. The agreement includes the largest cost recovery ever won under the Superfund law.

The settlement, the culmination of a nine-year joint state and federal investigation, was disclosed in a civil complaint filed Wednesday by the Environmental Protection Agency seeking damages from 25 other companies that did not cooperate with authorities.

“We’re sending a message that says if you illegally dispose of illegal waste, you’re going to get found, you’re going to get caught and you’ll have to pay for it,” said Daniel S. Greenbaum, commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Quality Engineering.

Technically a ‘Proposal’

The settlement is described technically as a “proposal” because federal law requires a 30-day public comment period, though the parties involved have already agreed to the conditions.

The settlement involves major companies who were customers of Cannons Engineering Corp., and the cleanup of Cannons’ hazardous waste sites in Bridgewater and Plymouth, Mass., and Nashua and Londonderry, N.H. It includes the recovery of $17 million in cleanup costs spent by the government at the sites, the largest recovery amount in Superfund history.

Although Cannons conducted the illegal dumping without notifying its customers, officials said, Superfund law holds that all parties connected with illegal dumping of hazardous waste are liable for cleanup costs.