New Documents Show RIDOT Tried to Cover Up 6/10 Contamination, Delayed Cleanup for Months

New Documents Show RIDOT Tried to Cover Up 6/10 Contamination, Delayed Cleanup for Months

Documents secured by GoLocalProv.com show that the Rhode Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT) knew that contractor Barletta Engineering and Heavy Material dumped soil in Providence improperly as part of the 6/10 construction project -- a month before GoLocal's first report about possible contamination on the site. 

Furthermore, the documents undermine RIDOT and Director Peter Alviti's statements at the time, which served to mislead the public.

Even after GoLocal unveiled the allegations of contamination, Alviti took to talk radio and attested the material piled next to homes by the construction site was clean.

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Communications show that RIDOT knew that material had been improperly moved to the Providence neighborhood, according to documents secured by GoLocal, and RIDOT had in fact instructed Barletta to remove the soil material more than five weeks earlier.

GoLocal has secured hundreds of pages of documents, reports and emails from the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (RIDEM) through an Access to Public Records Act (APRA) request.

RIDEM has refused to answer questions about the documents citing that there is an ongoing investigation.

The U.S. Attorney’s office in Rhode Island has issued subpoenas relating to the contamination at the 6/10 project.

 

Paper Trail

GoLocal's exclusive reporting revealing the contamination at the 6/10 site was published on Tuesday, September 8 -- and two days later, Alviti was on the radio saying statements that documents obtained by GoLocal now show to be false.

“So basically we've proven that the fill that was brought in is OK, but we're concerned and I think the investigation is going to continue, because we're concerned that another agenda is going on here. We don't know what it is,” said Alviti on the Gene Valicenti radio show, two days after the first GoLocal investigative story — a series that has sparked both state and federal investigations, including a federal grand jury.

By the next week after Alviti's radio comments, RIDOT admitted the soil was contaminated.

On September 16, GoLocal asked RIDOT and RIDEM if an enforcement action had been issued. GoLocal asked, "Please provide today a copy of the communications/agreement between the two agencies regarding remediation. Is there anything written?"

After ten calls and emails, RIDEM responded, "There is nothing written."  But, that response was not true.

Unknown until now, weeks before Alviti’s comments on radio, RIDOT had instructed Barletta to remove the soil. In an August 3rd letter from RIDOT’s Jan Bak to Howard Goldberg of Barletta, the agency said that the contractor had improperly moved the soil to the Providence neighborhood and it needed to be removed.

The soil, now determined to be contaminated, is abutting homes — houses with small children, and according to emails, the soil should have never been allowed to be used in the 6/10 project.

Barletta is part of the 6-10 CONSTRUCTORS JOINT VENTURE and secured $247,630,000 for the 6/10 improvement project awarded in 2017; also in 2018 Barletta was awarded the Pawtucket/Central Falls Commuter Rail Station and Bus Hub, which was $35,796,000.

Earlier this year Barletta was awarded the Bridge Group 49 - Henderson Bridge project for $65,964,000 - bringing the total to of RIDOT contracts to $349,390,000 -- all in less than three years.

 

 

 

Barletta Ordered to Remove Material in August, Soil Still Onsite

The August 3, 2020 letter to Barletta from RIDOT stated:

“During recent excavation on the referenced project, Barletta Heavy Division, Inc. removed soil from the project site [Pawtucket/Central Falls Train Station project] and trucked it to the RIDOT Route 6/10 Reconstruction project. The RI Department of Environmental Management (RIDEM) Remedial Approval Letter for Permit Number SR-26-1938, approved on January 3, 2020, only allows soil removal to a licensed disposal site for the referenced project. This action has resulted in a formal complaint to RIDEM that needs to be addressed immediately. Based on this complaint and violation, please remove the soil from the Route 6/10 project and legally dispose of said material by August 17, 2020. The Pawtucket project will not accept the return of this material.

In the interim, please place and maintain the stockpile on a suitable barrier, erosion control the perimeter, and securely cover to prevent contamination to a surrounding area. Also, per direction from RIDEM, please provide documentation (material shipping records and manifests) providing the exact number of truckloads that were removed from the Pawtucket site by the close of business August 4, 2020."

The material improperly moved from the Pawtucket/Central Falls Commuter Rail Station to the Providence neighborhood was in violation of the remediation plan for the site, according to the letter.

And, the material could not be legally returned to the Pawtucket/Central Falls site. The letter required that Barletta properly dispose of the contaminated soil at a licensed disposal facility.

Meanwhile, the contaminated soil -- or portions of it -- was still located in the Providence neighborhood piled to the height of the second floor of neighboring homes.

But, RIDEM, RIDOT and the consultant on the Pawtucket/Central Falls Station, Beta Group, knew there were issues even before the August 3rd letter.

In an email from RIDEM's Rachel Simpson, the Senior Environmental Scientist for the Pawtucket project, to Marylou Armstrong of Beta on July 21, 2020, she warned that materials should not be moved to the 6/10 project.

Hi Marylou, 

This email is a follow up to the voicemail I just left you. We received a complaint regarding soils at the commuter rail station being hauled away from the Site and being brought to the 6/10 Connector in Olneyville.

I wanted to check in to learn more about why we are receiving such a complaint as I was under the impression that all excavated soils from this project would remain stockpiled and then be reused on-Site. Please confirm that no jurisdictional soils are leaving the Site, and if soils are leaving the Site, please confirm that the soils are going to an appropriate licensed facility. Thank you, 

Rachel 

RIDOT officials knew that throughout the Pawtucket/Central Falls Station site there was contaminated material. 

In fact, RIDOT had sought federal funding to help clean up the property going back to 2016 and wrote in a federal grant application for the station project, "The Project also has great potential to spur brownfield redevelopment. A number of brownfields in the area are targeted for development and identified in proposed [transit-oriented development] TOD plans done as part of station planning, which would reduce exposure for residents."

 

Materials Also Brought in From Massachusetts 

In July and August, James White, President of Local 57 of the International Union of Operating Engineers, had notified state officials repeatedly about concerns  -- and both RIDOT and RIDEM officials had failed to take action.

“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,” White told GoLocal in a September interview.

In an email from a Barletta employee to RIDEM regulators dated July, 28, 2020, the Barletta employee defended the use of the material and said that the material fell with the regulatory limits. But, the Barletta employee cited one Massachusetts site for the material and White said the soil came from another site.

Jay,

See attached analytical data for the material imported for reuse on site. All of the analytics show that the material is within the residential limits required per our DEM permit. We have stopped hauling material as a precaution and have requested additional tests be taken. However, we feel that we should be able to continue importing the material. Let me know if you have any additional questions.

Thanks.

Daniel Deacon

Barletta Engineering

Barletta Heavy Division

RIDEM regulators did not agree that the material could be moved from the Pawtucket/Central Falls Station site to the Providence neighborhood.

Coming Thursday: How RIDOT ignored and pressured RIDEM. And, how RIDOT tried to influence environmental regulators to report that contaminated soil was "clean."