BOSTON MA (2/23/2011) ? The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) has assessed a $25,000 penalty to TRC Environmental Corporation of Connecticut for violations of environmental cleanup requirements that occurred at Riverfront Park in Fitchburg.

Riverfront Park, located at 14 Commercial Street, was created in 2003 when soils contaminated with petroleum compounds, metals, and asbestos from industrial operations by the former Hope Rubber Company were cleaned up and the site was capped. Following the cleanup, the City of Fitchburg filed a cleanup closure report and deed restriction with MassDEP that were signed and stamped by a Licensed Site Professional environmental consultant in the employ of TRC Environmental. The cleanup reports and deed restriction stated that the cap, in place to eliminate contact to underlying contaminated soil, had been constructed to a thickness of two feet.

In 2010, during construction to improve park access to the nearby Nashua River, MassDEP observed that the cap thickness varied between just a few inches to a maximum of 18 inches ? and not the two feet as had been reported. As a result, MassDEP found that TRC had made or caused the City of Fitchburg to make inaccurate statements in the reports to MassDEP on actual site conditions.

?The disposal site cleanup program rests on the integrity of the information that is submitted to MassDEP. The public, the city and MassDEP rely on the accuracy of these reports,? said Martin Suuberg, director of MassDEP?s Central Regional Office in Worcester.

In addition to paying the penalty, TRC Environmental must conduct further field investigative work to accurately determine and document the thickness of the remainder of the undisturbed cap and address issues as discovered. MassDEP?s own testing in July 2010 confirmed that, despite the need for additional work by TRC, the park is safe for public use.

Contact: Ed Coletta 617-292-5737