HANSON –The Select Board on Tuesday, Feb. 27 voted to issue a letter to the Natural Resource Damages fund (NRD) supporting a vision for restoration of the Indian Head River and potential dam removal at the as well as the safety and security of the State Street bridge.
The conditional letter of support all three towns are being asked to sign says they believe that dam removal and river restoration are ideally what their vision would be for the site and river, according to Becky Malamut, of the North and South Rivers Watershed Aassociation (NSRWA).
Hanover submitted its letter earlier that week and Pembroke had not yet committed their letter as of the Hanson board’s Feb. 27 meeting, although a majority favor it. Two other members want to see the letter first.
“It’s tough for me, because you’re telling me you can’t tell us the dollar amount, we can’t know for certain what it’s going to cost us,” said Select Board Chair Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett.
Malamut said the whole project has a probable cost $600,000 with town asked to put in between $50,000 and $100,000 to show “skin in the game.”
In response to a question from Vice Chair Joe Weeks about whether commits the town to a project or specific course of action, Malamut said it was non-binding.
“This is just telling NRD and DEP that you’re still interested in seeing what happens,” she said. “You haven’t just decided that dam removal is off the table.”
Malamut said the feasibility study was completed about a year ago. Town officials and about 160 residents had been updated on that completion at a public meeting in December, which found that dam removal is possible and would not increase flooding either upstream or downstream nor impact infrastructure in the area, she said.
“To no one’s surprise, the big question is sediment,” she said.
Composite sampling has been done behind both dams, focusing on the State Street area in Hanson, Malamut said.
“There was one area where we found the level [of lead] exceeded the state thresholds for soil [or] sediment,” she said. Lead and mercury were below the MVP thresholds.
Select Board member Ed Heal asked if samples were or are being done on the other side of the dam. Malamut replied that only the upstream side had been tested.
By removing the dam, she said there is not going to be much difference in sediment levels, according to Malamut and two areas of sediment would not mobilize, the study concluded.
Based on conversations with the state DEP, it is believed they would approve removal of the dam without having to do any major excavation or taking contaminated sediment off-site because they don’t believe that sediment will move, Malamut said.
That brings up the end of the study and of SuperFund, she told the board.
“We don’t know, obviously, what’s going to happen upstream, but what we do know is that State Street [dam] is already breached in two places,” she said. “We have some extra funding left in the contract and we have an opportunity to extend the contract and do some additional work with that funding.”
She said the NSRWA would like to further the designs for State Street to 60 percent, from the 30 percent mark where the design process now stands, as well as designing scour countermeasures needed to make sure the bridge maintains its footings and water levels are maintained lower. They also want to begin preparing permit documents. None of that means approving the dam removal, it is, rather, the next step in the process.
“This is not, ‘go ahead and remove the dam,’ this is continue to do more of the study to determine is it something you guys are ultimately going to propose,” Select Board Chair Laura FitzGerald-Kemmett asked.
“Exactly,” Malamut said. “Specifically, we’re focusing on State Street with the additional funds because it’s already breached. Whatever is upstream is already flowing downstream.”
The EPA will do an assessment to enable communities to understand what their plan will be for the Fireworks site and do additional sampling behind both dams and to better understand the extent of sediment contamination and how to remove it.
FitzGerald-Kemmett asked how the town could commit to a dam removal without the full facts about contamination, but Malamut said the letter was simply committing to the vision for the site.
Select Board member David George asked whether State Street would have to be closed for the work if and when the board approved the work. But Malamut said she didn’t think that was necessary.
“It depends on the scour countermeasures,” she said.
“The town of Hanson will not be responsible financially whatsoever for what happens to that bridge, including future problems that might happen because of the removal of the dam,” Select Board member Ann Rein asked, noting the project is fraught with danger of contamination of the North River all the way to the seaboard.
While acknowledging it is an important question, Malamut said she didn’t have that answer.
“I think it’s important for us to read the letter,” FitzGerald-Kemmett said.
Funding for the Natural Resource Damages Fund is unique Malamut said, in that the majority of dam removal projects don’t have a bucket of money in pocket.
“There is $7 million there,” she said. “I think we’ve got about $400,000 for this project. … It’s also important to think of costs moving forward.”
While the “bucket of money” available will be used, the town will also be asked to put in some money for the project because funders want to see dam owners doing that.
“[We] won’t be reliant on the town to fund the removal of the dam itself in addition to these scour countermeasures for the bridge,” she added.
Hanson’s letter to the NRD, which FitzGerald-Kemmett read aloud during the meeting states the town supports moving forward with river restoration as the objective of the site with the understanding that Hanson doesn’t have all the data needed to determine how to safely remove contaminated sediment through the Indian Head River, and requiring following conditions: EPA to complete an assessment of the fireworks site upstream to determine the extent of contamination, who is responsible for the cleanup and an appropriate plan for it; and project partners must set up an appropriate sediment management plan for contaminated sediment behind both dams, which could be mobilized as a result of dam removal.”
The letter also states dam removal is possible and is the preferred alternative for Hanson, after reviewing the feasibility study, if funding is available, as well as the vision of returning river fowl and fish. It is also aware soil samples from the dams exceed soil standards for upland reuse and that further sampling is required to better understand the scope of the contamination and an appropriate sediment is needed to determine the extent of contamination and an appropriate management plan.
Rein said a third bullet point about the safety of the State Street bridge must be included.