Several Massachusetts cities were awarded stimulus grants to aid in the cleanup of polluted sites. The funding is provided by federal stimulus money, enhanced with money available through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
The Act was designed to help communities clean up sites containing hazardous chemicals or pollutants. Massachusetts grants include $2.7 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and $4.4 million from the Environmental Protection Agency general program funding.
Announced May 12, 2009, the grants are intended to renew and improve conditions of former industrial and commercial locations. The Central Massachusetts Regional Planning Commission received $400,000 for the cleanup of the former Worcester Technical High School, while the city of Worcester received a $200,000 communitywide assessment grant. North Brookfield received $200,000 that will aid in the continued cleanup of asbestos on South Common Street.
Asbestos fabric and other asbestos-contaminated products were created on the site until the mid-1980s by Aztec Industries/Asbestos Textile. Asbestos exposure has been linked to the development of serious health conditions such as asbestosis and mesothelioma. Mesothelioma is an aggressive cancer and a mesothelioma diagnosis is often accompanied by a poor prognosis since patients often do not express symptoms of the disease until it has progressed to later stages of development.
The grant for South Common Street is the third received for the cleanup of a 5.3-acre area known as the North Brookfield Downtown Development Project. Former Selectman James J. Foyle stated that the continued cleanup of the site will make the property suitable for lease.
The use of the land at South Common Street may include a warehouse and parking lot and lease negotiations are in progress between North Brookfield officials and Quaboag Corp., a company that supplies rubber soles to show and boot manufacturers.
Twenty grants were provided throughout Massachusetts. Additional communicates that received funding include Framingham, Holyoke, New Bedford, Lowell, the Berkshires and the Merrimack Valley.
Additional information about asbestos exposure and mesothelioma may be found through the Mesothelioma Cancer Center.
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