State Has Plan To Clean Up General Chemical In Framingham

FRAMINGHAM, MA — The state Department of Environmental Protection wants to spend about $2.2 million to clean up the General Chemical site, a property located along Leland Street that was once used as a petroleum terminal and as a hazardous waste storage site.

Framingham Chief Operating Officer Thatcher Kezer told the City Council at the Tuesday night meeting that the DEP approached city and Sherborn officials on Jan. 8 about some money that was found to clean about 40 percent of the site.

Cleanup work could begin by the spring or summer, Kezer said.

"They've secured the money and want to move quickly," he told the Council on Tuesday.

Gulf Oil used the property as a fuel terminal before General Chemical began using it in the 1960s. The company stored and treated hazardous solvents there up until 2012. General Chemical was cleaning up the site, but stopped in 2017 claiming it had run out of money.

Environmental officials say there's a toxic plume of waste under the site, and it's migrating toward Sherborn.

The new plan comes as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is getting read to restart cleanup at the Nyanza Superfund site in Ashland. That site also has a plume of waste buried in bedrock near downtown Ashland.

A public meeting on the state's new General Chemical cleanup plan will be held at 7 p.m. on Feb. 6 at Woodrow Wilson Elementary, Kezer said.