MassDEP fines three firms $168K over environmental incidents in Central Mass.
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MassDEP is headquartered at 100 Cambridge St. in Boston.
The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection has fined three individuals and businesses with ties to Central Massachusetts, with the fines totaling $168,413.
The largest of the three fines was issued to C&R Realty Holdings, LLC, of Sutton for violations of asbestos and solid waste regulations occurring at a commercial property in Webster.
The fine, totaling $82,309 and announced in a Thursday press release, was issued after Town of Webster officials inspected the site and determined the firm was operating the property as a solid waste facility without necessary approvals. Inspectors noticed the company had improperly removed asbestos-containing insulation from inside the building, leaving the material in a pile outside.
In addition to the fine, MassDEP mandated that C&R Realty retain a licensed asbestos contractor to properly abate the pile of materials and the firm clean up and remove solid waste from the property.
Another asbestos-related fine was issued by MassDEP to Wanderson Oliveira Vaz of Medford. MassDEP issued the fine of $72,104, detailing in a Friday press release it had received a complaint from City officials in Fitchburg, who had observed heating pipes covered with asbestos-containing materials outside an occupied multi-family building owned by Vaz.
Ruling that Vaz had failed to conduct an asbestos survey of the building heating system and hadn’t notified MassDEP before starting the project, the regulatory agency mandated Vaz hire a licensed contractor to clean up the site and dispose of the asbestos waste material.
The smallest of the three fines was issued to Dias Transportation, Inc. of Pawtucket, Rhode Island. This $14,000 fine was announced on Monday via a press release, following a determination the company failed to take timely action to address a clean up of a diesel fuel spill resulting from a vehicle accident on South Main Street in Bellingham.
The accident resulted in the release of an estimated 50 gallons of fuel into the roadway, adjacent soil, and a stormwatch catch basin leading to a wetland area. MassDEP determined the company took some efforts to clean the spill but took two years to complete additional required assessments and clean up actions.
Eric Casey is a staff writer at Worcester Business Journal, who primarily covers the manufacturing and real estate industries.
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