EXCLUSIVE: Union Official Says RIDOT Allows Contractor to Illegally Dump Contaminates at 6/10 Site
Tuesday, September 08, 2020
One of Rhode Island’s top union officials is blowing the whistle -- and says he has proof that one of the construction firms working on two of Rhode Island’s largest infrastructure projects is improperly disposing of contaminated materials.
The construction firm at the center of the allegations is the Massachusetts-based Barletta Engineering/Heavy Division. which is one of the lead firms on the $410 million 6/10 Reconstruction project. The companies hired by RIDOT for the 6/10 project are called the "6/10 CONSTRUCTORS JOINT VENTURE." That joint venture has been paid in the past three-plus fiscal years $130,649,808, according to Rhode Island state records.
Of the total project cost, Barletta and its partners in the 6-10 Constructors Joint Venture's portion of the project is $247 million. The project was awarded to 6-10 Constructors Joint Venture after it was, the Barletta entities claim, the low bid by “more than 80 million dollars.”
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTBarletta is also the lead contractor on the Pawtucket/Central Falls Commuter Rail Station and Bus Hub -- a separate $47 million project.
James White, President of Local 57 of the International Union of Operating Engineers says, “I first brought concerns to Barletta in July and they did nothing. Our folks are trained in identifying hazardous materials and we had concerns about the soil materials they were bringing on to the site.”
"We have a woman who works on this site and she goes home and hugs her daughter. When she leaves she is covered with dust from working this site. I don't want her and her daughter harmed," said White.
“Steve Rogers, our business agent for the union, tracked the trucks which were dumping on the site 6/10 Connector and followed the trucks and found that they were not coming from the site that Barletta told us. The soil was coming from another Barletta project — MBTA railroad station in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts,” said White.
GoLocal reached out to Barletta Corporations headquarters and legal counsel via email, phone, or messenger to ask questions. No one from the company responded to requests for comments.
Union Paid for Independent Testing - Potential Cancer-Causing Materials
White says that he and his union have paid for testing of soil samples material with one of New England’s leading testing firms. They hired RI Analytical to analyze samples that the union collected from soil trucked in and dumped at the 6/10 project site.
In an email from Ruben Parrilla of RI Analytical to White, Parrilla wrote, "This soil does not meet the industrial/commerical standards for re-use or land application. Seeing that you are in Rhode Island the disposal option would be to send this to the Johnston landfill (see attached) as alternative cover material “urban fill/contaminated (impacted) soil.”
One of the materials found in the samples according to RI Analytical's results was benzo(a)pyrene, "A chemical that comes from certain substances when they are not burned completely. It is found in car exhaust, smoke from wood fires, tobacco, oil and gas products, charred or grilled foods, and other sources. It may also be found in water and soil. Benzo(a)pyrene can cause a skin rash, a burning feeling, skin color changes, warts, and bronchitis. It may also cause cancer," according to the National Cancer Institute.
Two of the samples provided by White to RI Analytical measured 3.4 and 3.5 part per million for benzo(a)pyrene and that is more than four-times the Rhode Island standard of .08 according to the testing firm.
White had said he reached out to Rhode Island Department of Transporation’s senior staff and Director Peter Alviti multiple times, who repeatedly rebuffed White and his claims. White called RIDOT in July and followed up with a letter dated August 5.
“RIDOT has been slow to respond and take action to look into the concerns," said White of his repeated efforts to get Alviti to take action.
White wrote yet another letter to Alviti — in an August 31 letter to Alviti, White wrote, "Recent concerns regarding hazardous materials being trucked into the State, and being used as fill, on the Route 6/10 project prompted my organization to have soil samples gathered and tested. Attached you will find the results of these laboratory findings.’
“One chemical was found to be more than double the acceptable limits. Dibenzo(a,h)anthracene. This substance is ‘highly genotoxic and it intercalates into DNA and causes mutations." (Genotoxic agents are mutagenic or carcinogenic when inhaled, ingested or penetrate the skin). Another chemical was found to be more than four times the acceptable limits. Benzo (a)pyrene. This substance is ‘mutagenic and highly carcinogenic’ (cancer-causing and changes the genetic material of DNA),” wrote White.
“Conservatively, in excess of 4000 tons of this hazardous material has been trucked into Rhode Island for this project. As the labor representative for the people operating the heavy equipment handling these substances, I have both a legal and moral obligation to protect their wellbeing,” White wrote to Alviti.
Questions if Contaminated Material is Being Moved From Pawtucket Train Station Site
White tells GoLocal that one of his members was reassigned by Barletta from the 6/10 worksite to the Pawtucket Intermodal site and witnessed and talked to drivers who said they were taking material from Pawtucket to be dumped as fill at the 6/10 project. The Pawtucket train station is being built on parcels that are contaminated and identified on the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management's CERCLA list of contaminated properties.
RI DEM Has Not Responded, RIDOT Says It Is Reviewing
White also wrote to the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management's Director Janet Coit and provided her with the result of the soil samples.
"It is shocking to think that the State of Rhode Island would allow thousands of tons of hazardous waste to be trucked in from Massachusetts and dumped in the middle of Providence for use on a construction project. This hazardous waste is being buried in close proximity to businesses, homes and a school," wrote White in his letter to Coit on August 31.
When reached on Monday, DEM spokesperson Michael Healey wrote, "It’s Labor Day. We’ll respond tomorrow when all staff are back to work and information can be obtained."
White tells GoLocal he has received no response from Coit or any other DEM officials.
On Monday, RIDOT's Lisbeth Pettengill, Director of Communications. Rhode Island Department of Transportation said in an email to GoLocal, "RIDOT is aware of the allegations made by local 57 in regard to soil used at the 6/10 site. RIDOT is having the soil independently tested and expects the results back sometime either late this week or next week. The soil management plan for the 6/10 site has been handled by Aecom who also had the soil analyzed and has indicated that it falls within the parameter set out in the soil management plan. We are working and talking with Mr. White and as I said, are having the soil independently tested and the results should be in shortly."
White said he had not been informed by RIDOT that it would be doing independent tests and White told GoLocal he would like to be onsite when sampling takes place.
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