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Leather Tannery Cleanup Stalled
The 30-acre tract on which the leather tannery once stood is now a proposed Superfund site, and the EPA has alerted residents not to come into contact with the contaminated soil. Yet New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services personnel have observed children riding bikes along an on-site trail.(1) Signs have been posted warning of the dangers of trespassing, but much of the area has not been secured to prevent public access. There are gaps and breaks in the fencing that surrounds the northern portion of the property, and no barriers whatsoever have been placed around the southern end of the property.(2) Whenever Nashua Alderman Mark Plamondon of the 4th ward visits his district, which contains the site of the former tannery, he makes a point of checking the site's gate. Invariably, he finds the gate closed, but unlocked. "Children continue to come onto the property," he says.(3) Alderman Plamondon has made it his priority to turn this veritable public health hazard into a city park as a means of giving back to a community that has dealt with the pollution and odors caused by the tannery for 60 years. "My goal," he claims, "is to turn brown into green."(4) Situated within yards of the Nashua River, the tannery site would be an ideal location for the park Plamondon proposes or the development of new homes, either of which could easily be connected by footbridge to the 100 acres of city parks located directly across the river.(5) Instead, six decades' worth of leather tanning operations has left both the site and the river heavily contaminated. Though the tannery has been inactive for nearly 20 years, the site still poses a significant threat to the health of the community due to the accumulation of toxins such as chromium, zinc, and phenol.(6) Between 1924 and 1984, the Mohawk Tannery, also known as Granite State Leathers, produced tanned hides for leather by preserving animal skins with tanning chemicals, the main component of which is tannic acid.(7) The chemical treatment of hides or skins causes them to be immune to bacterial infection and prevents the skin's collagen fibers from sticking together or drying, so the material remains porous and soft.(8) Yet the tanning process produces effluent with high levels of chromium and large volumes of waste solids that includes chemical byproduct, hair and trimmings.(9) The Mohawk Tannery site was proposed for inclusion on the Superfund list due to past disposal practices that included the direct discharge of wastewater containing chromium, zinc, and phenol into the Nashua River and the on-site disposal of sludge containing hazardous substances like chromium, pentachlorophenol, and phenol.(10) Trichloroethylene was also detected in the sludge and has been discovered in the ground water used as drinking water by area residents.(11) Throughout its 60 years of operation, the Mohawk Tannery made use of many on-site unlined lagoons as disposal areas. Two of the largest are located directly next to the Nashua River. These disposal areas are within the 100-year flood plain and have not been constructed or maintained to prevent the washout of hazardous substances in the event of a flood.(12) The two largest open lagoons remain without any barriers or enclosures to protect against accidental contact with the toxic substances they contain.(13) Human exposure to theses chemicals is known to cause liver and pancreatic damage, diarrhea, and harm to the kidneys, blood, lungs, nervous system, immune system, and gastrointestinal tract.(14) Skin contact with chromium alone can cause skin ulcers, and the ingestion of the chemical can cause convulsions, kidney and liver damage, and even death.(15) It is unclear, however, when the funding will be available to make possible Alderman Plamondon's goal of reclaiming the site. The EPA has made a proposal for cleanup of the 60,000 cubic yards of sludge that remain on the property and has held a public hearing. The site is not yet officially listed. The EPA projects that it would take a year to clean up the site, but when the cleanup will start is unknown. For Alderman Plamondon, the most pressing concern "is that this will be brushed under the carpet for a little longer...maybe with the mentality that Nashua has put up with this for twenty or thirty years, what's another ten or twelve or longer? ...That's my biggest fear. I would like to see this project given a higher priority for cleanup."(16) Up to Top HOME | Email Signup | About Us | Contact Us | Terms of Use | © 2008 Sierra Club |
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