Wheelabrator to Pay $7.5 Million in Settlement

A local municipal waste incinerator plant owner will play $7.5 million in a settlement relating to numerous environmental regulation violations in the state.

Wheelabrator operates three municipal waste incinerators in Massachusetts -- in North Andover, Saugus and Millbury -- which combined can process as much as 1,500 tons of solid waste per day and generate ash containing contaminants such as lead, cadmium and arsenic. 

Wheelabrator's plants in North Andover and Saugus allegedly failed to properly treat and dispose of ash as well as failed to contain fugitive ash -- violations of both the Hazardous Waste Management Act and the Clean Water Act. Wheelabrator in Saugus and Millbury allegedly committed other violations as well.

“We are grateful to those who initially raised concerns with us about Wheelabrator, and are pleased that Wheelabrator has taken the steps needed to set its three facilities on a safe path for the future," Attorney General Martha Coakley said in a joint statement with the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection. "Working together with MassDEP, we have reached a settlement that will ensure continuing environmental oversight of these facilities as well as a return of dollars to both state and local budgets and help for the affected communities.” 

In September 2009, the state launched an investigation into Wheelabrator after two people connected to Wheelabrator Saugus approached Coakley's office over concerns about environmental violations at the Saugus facility.

In July 2010, an employee of Wheelabrator North Andover provided more information about violations at the North Andover facility.

In its 285 Holt Road plant in North Andover, the attorney general's complaint says that there was a hole in the roof and side wall of that facility’s ash house, which allowed ash to be released into the air surrounding the plant. The North Andover plant also allegedly transported untreated ash to landfills in Massachusetts and New Hampshire and stored it in an outdoor “cooling pond," which it then dumped into a storage area.

Wheelabrator Millbury allegedly dumped ash on an ice shear at a landfill, and when that ice shear collapsed it dumped 15,000 gallons of ash water into adjacent wetlands and a brook.

Wheelabrator Saugus, according to the complaint, allegedly failed to properly treat ash before disposal, had a hole in the roof of its ash house, used municipal water to clean the Saugus plant and its equipment and emptied that water into a parking lot and neighboring Rumney Marsh wetlands.

In the settlement, Wheelabrator admits no wrongdoing but agrees to pay a total of $7.5 million, including $4.5 million for a municipal fund to be distributed to cities and towns that paid Wheelabrator North Andover and Wheelabrator Saugus for trash incinerator services as well as $2 million in civil penalties.

Wheelbrator will also be subject to random inspections for the next three years and must also hire an independent environmental auditor to monitor environmental compliance.

MassDEP recently inspected all three incinerators and determined that -- with changes that had been made since the violations were reported --  the three plants are no longer a health or environmental threat.

“Municipal waste collection is an important public service, but waste incineration triggers many important environmental regulations, and strict compliance with those regulations is required in order to ensure that the public health is protected,” said MassDEP Commissioner Kenneth Kimmell. "Protecting public health and the environment must be priority one for Wheelabrator from this day forward.”