HomeMy WebLinkAboutEPA - 1/16/1973UNITED `' %TES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECT(/ J AGENCY
SUBJECT: Hatheway & Patterson Co. DATE: January 16, 1973
Mansfield, MA 02048
FROM: lAE
TO: Richard H. Johnson, Director, Enforcement Division
Thru: Jeffrey G. Miller, Chief, Enforcement Branch
The captioned company operates a small timber treatment facility at
15 County Street in Mansfield. Part of the process involves impregnating
lumber with a wood preservative powder called "pentachlorophenyl,"
which is used suspended in #2 fuel oil. Over mauy years of operation,
minor spillage of the suspension has apparently beilt up a pool of the
material underground. The land, previously occupied by a railroad
roundhouse, consists of a layer of granular coal topped with an inch or
two of soil, and is therefore quite porous. The preservative/oil mixture
has begun leaching out of the ground and into the adjacent Rumford River,
a small stream.
The company's attorney (Maurice Maher, Esq., 40 Broad Street, Boston
t23-10°2) reported .the discharzc to El" -on Deces1cr 22. 1972 in
t
the Massachusetts Division of Water Pollution Control to abate the dis-
charge by booming, skimming and digging interceptor trenches. We told
him the plan seemed reasonable and concurred that it should be followed.
Subsequently, Maher told me by phone that the discharge has been occurring
since last June, that the above work was underway, and that new equipment,
replacing items thought to be, leaking, was being installed.
A local citizen (James P. Foster, 26 Draper Ave., Mansfield 02048)
complained of the pollution to EPA by letter datei December 20, 1972. He
reports being an eyewitness on December 2, 1972, and estimates the flow
into the river on that date at 10 gallons per minute.
eze
George R. C3ampa
FA
EPA form 1320.6 (Rev. 6.72)