EPA plan would clear PCB soil from New Bedford's Sawyer Street property and open most of it to housing
The draft change to the New Bedford Harbor Superfund cleanup would remove soil with more than 1 part per million of PCBs and backfill it with clean soil. An EPA project manager put the cost at about $9.25 million, The New Bedford Light reported.
NEW BEDFORD The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency wants to dig out the top 3 feet of PCB-contaminated soil at the city-owned Sawyer Street property in New Bedford's North End and replace it with clean soil. The change would let the city pursue housing on land the harbor cleanup has used since the 1980s. Public comments on the proposal open Friday, Oct. 30.
Under the draft, EPA would remove soil wherever PCB contamination is higher than 1 part per million, digging to a depth of 3 feet and backfilling with clean soil, the agency said in an Oct. 19 release. Land use controls would go on the property as well. They would allow the City of New Bedford to pursue residential development, EPA said, but would require a soil management plan so that any contaminated soil deeper than 3 feet is handled safely if it is ever disturbed.
EPA calls the proposal its draft eighth Explanation of Significant Differences, a change to the upper and lower harbor remedy for the New Bedford Harbor Superfund Site. Its May presentation shows the agency issued the seventh in September 2025.
What it would cost and how long it would take
EPA project manager Chris Kelly estimated the work would take about six months and cost about $9.25 million, including 30 years of maintenance and monitoring, The New Bedford Light reported from the agency's virtual public meeting Wednesday night. "Hopefully by the summer next year this area will be theoretically ready for mixed-use development, so a condo or an apartment building would be feasible," Kelly said at the meeting, according to the Light.
The whole lot would not open up. A capped containment cell on the property's easternmost side, closest to the water, limits what that part can be used for, the Light reported, and Kelly said the northern edge will need land use controls because monitoring found PCBs deeper than the 3 feet of soil set for removal. He also said he expects the city and EPA to enter a cooperative agreement to carry on that long-term maintenance, the Light reported.
Asked at the meeting how the capped cell would affect groundwater, MassDEP project manager Peter Zawadzkas said PCBs in the soil have a very small chance of reaching groundwater, the city requires the area to be connected to city water, and the brackish water at the waterfront site would never be used for drinking, according to the Light.
How the site got here
The city has let EPA do remedy support work at its Sawyer Street property since the 1980s, Regional Administrator Mark Sanborn said in the release. "This proposed work is an important step as we near completion of the New Bedford Harbor Superfund Site cleanup," he said.
At its annual public meeting on May 20, EPA reported that soil sampling in what it calls Area C at Sawyer Street was finished in the summer of 2025 and that a risk assessment of the results followed late that year. The facility is fenced against trespassers, office trailers and an equipment shed remain, and air monitoring for PCBs has come back below the project's lower risk goal of 110 nanograms per cubic meter or not detectable at all, the presentation said. In 2025 the Army Corps of Engineers and its contractor, Jacobs, continued demobilizing the Sawyer Street facility, the presentation said.
The city has owned 103 Sawyer St. since the 1940s, and the land is zoned for mixed use, the Light reported. City Public Information Officer Jack Thuon said in an email Thursday that the city is "actively pursuing ideas" for the property, including but not limited to housing, the Light reported. The Riverwalk, the waterfront park system the city is preparing to build along the upper harbor and the lower Acushnet River, would take in the eastern side of the property, according to the Light.
How to weigh in
The 30-day comment period runs from Friday, Oct. 30, through Saturday, Nov. 28. Starting Oct. 30, the draft's administrative record can be read and comments filed at regulations.gov under docket EPA-R01-SFUND-2026-6304, EPA said. The agency said it reviews every comment and answers them in writing before it selects a final alternative, if one is needed.
Label: Reported by us, from the town's posted records.
Notes
The proposal, its cleanup terms, the comment period and the docket come from EPA's Oct. 19 release and its New Bedford Harbor meeting page. The history of the Sawyer Street work comes from EPA's May 20 annual meeting presentation. The cost, the timeline, what officials said at EPA's Oct. 28 meeting and the city's emailed comment come from The New Bedford Light's Oct. 29 report and are credited to it where they appear. We read them on Oct. 29. We checked each date and weekday against a calendar: Oct. 19 is a Monday, Oct. 28 a Wednesday, Oct. 30 a Friday and Nov. 28 a Saturday. Not heard: EPA's media office and the city's public information officer (requests filed Oct. 29).
Corrections
No corrections to this story. If something here is wrong, tell us. Every correction is dated on the story and listed in our public log.
Sources (4)
- EPA: EPA to Hold Public Meeting on Modification of Remedy at New Bedford Harbor Superfund Site on October 28, 2026EPA Region 1 news release, Monday, Oct. 19, 2026 (page last updated Oct. 22). Source of the draft eighth ESD, the 1 ppm and 3-foot terms, the land use controls and soil management plan, the Sanborn quote, the Oct. 30 to Nov. 28 comment period and the docket. Read Oct. 29, 2026.
- EPA: Stay Updated, New Bedford Harbor (public meeting information and materials)Lists the Oct. 28, 2026, 6 p.m. Microsoft Teams meeting on the draft eighth ESD and the May 20, 2026 annual meeting presentation. Read Oct. 29, 2026.
- EPA: New Bedford Harbor Superfund Site Annual Public Information Meeting, May 20, 2026 (presentation, SEMS Doc ID 100039127)Source of the Area C soil sampling (July and August 2025), the risk assessment (November and December 2025), ESD 7 issued September 2025, the fencing, trailers and shed, the air monitoring results and the Army Corps and Jacobs work at the facility. Read Oct. 29, 2026.
- The New Bedford Light: EPA unveils plan to remediate Sawyer Street propertyBy Brooke Kushwaha, posted Thursday, Oct. 29, 2026, 4:47 p.m. Credited for the Oct. 28 meeting remarks (cost, six months, next summer, the containment cell, the northern edge, the cooperative agreement, the groundwater answer), the city's ownership and zoning, the Riverwalk and the city's emailed comment. Read Oct. 29, 2026.