The “Site” consists of nine privately-owned residential properties (total of approximately 2 acres) and an abandoned former metal scrap recycling facility (14 acres) known as Tombarello and Sons.  Operations had included magnetic separation of metals from soil and truck driving instruction, both of which generated dust for many years. The residential properties have reportedly been contaminated due to their proximity to the facility. They are all currently occupied, and their condition and features are consistent with well-maintained homes.

Tombarello had erected a fence between the homes and the facility in the mid-1960s, and later maintained it to help mitigate fugitive dust from entering the residential properties.

On April 2, 2008 the Site was referred by letter to EPA from the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP), who had already sampled the nine residential properties and the facility, as a potential removal action. On April 29, 2008, EPA performed a Preliminary Assessment/Site Investigation (PA/SI) on the residential properties.[1]

The Tombarello property is generally level, contains several buildings and building foundation pads, and is secured with chain-link fencing. Most of the equipment, metal and debris have been removed, but some, including one excavator, remains. The surface is a mostly bare soil/gravel mix with some sparse vegetation and some soil piles. A drainage ditch runs from the north to the southwest, adjacent to I-495.  Sampling on the northern property boundary indicates contamination with PCBs and metals in surface soil (see Table 1 on page 3).

The residential properties are well-maintained and contain homes, lawn, decorative shrubbery/ trees and a variety of outbuildings and patios. Elevated levels of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and metals have been detected throughout the back yards (see Table 2 on page 4).

A narrow strip of land in the back of some of the residential properties is legally part of the Tombarello & Sons property, but had been incorporated as an integral part of the resident’s back yards for years because the fence was placed inside the Tombarello & Sons property and a vegetative border evolved.

According to the Region ArcGIS mapping tool, within one mile of the Site there are:

·  21,968 residents;
·  8 public and private schools;

·  One day care center;

·  One hospital;

·  Two nursing homes. 

According to the EPA Region 1 Environmental Justice Mapping Tool, the Site is not in an environmental justice area.

The impacted residential properties are located at 19-53 Hoffman Avenue in Lawrence, Essex County, Massachusetts (Map 33, Lots 14, 13, 12, 12a, 11, 10-1, 10-2, 9 and 8), north of the  Tombarello property the address of which is 207 Marston Street (Map 33, Lot 17); (42 43’ 10.88 North latitude, 071 08’ 29.41 West longitude).  This mixed industrial/ residential area is bounded on the east by I-495, on the west by Marston Street, on the north by the Hoffman Avenue, and on the south by industrial properties. A middle school is located across Marston Street from the Tombarello property.

Analysis of 17 soil samples from the northern property line of the Tombarello & Sons property detected PCBs, lead, cadmium, chromium and barium in excess of MassDEP and/or EPA screening levels for unrestricted residential use.

Analysis of 129 soil samples from the residential properties detected PCBs, lead, cadmium, chromium and arsenic in excess of MassDEP and/or EPA screening levels for unrestricted residential use.

The PA indicated that the pathway of the contaminants to the abutting yards was both by air via wind and dust and by surface water run-off. SI sampling supports these pathways by indicating that the contamination is on or near the ground surface.  In the following table summarizing the data, highlighted entries indicate exceedences of allowable contaminant levels and associated properties.

ERRS completed phase 1 of activities and demobilized from site on 10/5/2010.

• Grubbing vegetation to support property line survey and additional START soil sampling
• Collect, segregating, staging and removing hazardous waste containers and items from the site open areas and buildings that cannot be secured
• From 8/25/2010 to 9/3/2010 START performed additional sampling on the residential properties; a total of approximatley 330 samples were taken from 150 sample locations for metals, PCB's and PAH's. One residence was sampled for Hexavalent Chromium.
• From 10/12/2010 to 10/21/2010 START performed Site Investigation (SI) sampling on the Tombarello & Sons property; a total of approximately 200 samples were taken from 154 locations for metals, PCB's and PAH's. 

• Communicate sampling analysis results to residents, commence planning for removal action in Spring 2011.
• Perform a removal of higher concentrated contaminated soil that presents a recontamination hazard and staged hazardous materials and containers in Fall/Winter 2010-2011.
• Perform residential removal per samping results after the removal action on the Tombarello property. 

• Evaluate Tombarello & Sons property data when available.
• Evaluate residential data and communicate results to residents.
• Continue dialogue with PRP about them performing removal activities. 

• Residents are concerned about impacts to their health due to soil contamination and impacts during the removal project. 

• MassDEP
• MADPH
• City of Lawrence
• Residents
• EPA Community Involvment Staff and ATSDR are providing critical site support.