MassDEP Fines Company Over Violations At Worcester Warehouse

WORCESTER, MA — The state Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) has fined a Boston-based company over contamination cleanup violations at a Worcester warehouse and freight distribution center.

According to MassDEP, 150 Blackstone River Road LLC failed to properly clean up oil contamination at the warehouse, and failed to comply with a deed restriction on the property. The company is being ordered to pay $65,571 for those violations.

Redevelopment of the Blackstone River Road site began in 2013 when Mid-States Packaging Inc. and GFI Partners formed 150 Blackstone River Road LLC. Over about three years, the companies built a 610,000-square-foot warehouse and distribution center in the Quinsigamond Village neighborhood.

In 2017, Worcester granted the project a 15-year tax-increment financing plan (TIF) worth about $5.4 million. In general, TIFs grant developers a tax exemption on new value that comes from redeveloping property. In exchange, developers agree to create jobs and improve property values — in the case of 150 Blackstone River Road LLC, the project was projected to create 300 new jobs and $21 million in new property value.

MassDEP said it found violations at the site during an audit, and said construction workers may have been exposed to contamination during construction work in 2016.

"In 2016, the company undertook construction activities without the required soil management and health and safety plans and without cleaning up the soil contamination. The consent order requires the company to complete an assessment of the site and develop and implement a plan to recover the oil," MassDEP said in a news release.

The 150 Blackstone River Road site was previously home to a U.S. Steel plant dating to the 19th Century. Mid-States Packaging, an Auburn-based transportation company, had occupied the site for about 30 years before the redevelopment and still does. The food distributor Imperial Distributors occupies about half of the warehouse.