Site history: An active coal tar processing facility operated at the Site from the
1890s to the late 1950s.
Location: Everett, Massachusetts.
Trustees:
Case status: Planning restoration efforts.
Overview: The Former Coal Tar Processing Facility Superfund
Site lies adjacent to the Island End River, a small inlet off of the Mystic
River estuary that empties into Boston Harbor. An active coal tar processing
facility operated at the Site from the 1890s to the late 1950s. The facility
was dismantled in 1960. High concentrations of polynuclear aromatic
hydrocarbons (PAHs) with a coal tar signature exist in the Island End River
sediment despite an extensive remedial action that included dredging and
creation of a Combined Disposal Facility (CDF).
In recent excavations and road work, some vestiges of storage tanks have
been found, containing fluid-like, taffy-like and hardened tar materials. Tar
"boils" periodically erupt to the land surface in numerous areas on-site,
seepage has been noted and attributed to residual wastes from the processing
facility, and tar mats have formed along the shoreline of the Mystic and Island
End Rivers alongside and downstream of the site. The remedy has eliminated the
chronic release of coal tar from the site and eliminated much of the sediment
contamination and tar mats but high concentrations of PAHs remain in the
sediment downstream of the facility.
The U.S. Coast Guard and Massachusetts State Department of Environmental Protection had required
the permanent placement of a boom surrounding the property but the CDF has
eliminated its need. The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection
is the lead regulatory agency for the Site.
