The New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services is ordering an environmental cleanup of a demolition site that went wrong, a report by the Keene Sentinel says. Bourgeois Wrecking and Excavation Inc., Westminster, Massachusetts, allegedly buried cinderblocks mixed with demolition debris along a ravine.
Bourgeois began demolishing a former county jail in Cheshire County, New Hampshire, Nov. 27. Christopher Coates, county administrator, says in the report he corresponded with the Department of Environmental Services via email about using cinder blocks from the old jail to help address erosion of county property along a ravine. According to Coates, the department said he could reuse the blocks if they were clean and without paint.
But debris, including insulation, Styrofoam and other construction debris, was mixed in with the cinderblocks dumped at the ravine banks, the report says. State environmental officials say in the report that an undetermined amount of debris has been deposited along the ravine, and they asked the county to clean it up.
A Vermont-based newspaper, the Brattleboro Reformer, sent videos and photos of the dumpsite to department officials, the report says. Reporters then wrote an article stating the debris was dumped on Dec. 1. Coates says in the report he received emails Dec. 2 with concerns about how debris was handled on-site. He went to visit the site and stopped the work on Dec. 4.
James Martin, public information officer for the department, says in the report that the county is cooperating and must provide the department with a work plan outlining how the materials will be removed and where they will be disposed.
Because of possible seasonal weather, department officials are allowing the county to get as much material removed as possible before getting its work plan approved. There is currently no deadline for cleanup to be complete.
The old jail has been vacant since 2010, when a new jail opened in Keene, New Hampshire. The report says the county budgeted $255,000 for the demolition of the building and a nearby daycare house on the grounds of a county-owned nursing home. The budget included transport for construction and demolition (C&D) debris. The county planned to spend $124,000 to demolish the building and $54,000 to remove asbestos from the closed jail.
Coates says in the report that it’s too early to tell how the cleanup will affect the project budgets.
No more results found. Bourgeois began demolishing a former county jail in Cheshire County, New Hampshire, Nov. 27. Christopher Coates, county administrator, says in the report he corresponded with the Department of Environmental Services via email about using cinder blocks from the old jail to help address erosion of county property along a ravine. According to Coates, the department said he could reuse the blocks if they were clean and without paint.
But debris, including insulation, Styrofoam and other construction debris, was mixed in with the cinderblocks dumped at the ravine banks, the report says. State environmental officials say in the report that an undetermined amount of debris has been deposited along the ravine, and they asked the county to clean it up.
A Vermont-based newspaper, the Brattleboro Reformer, sent videos and photos of the dumpsite to department officials, the report says. Reporters then wrote an article stating the debris was dumped on Dec. 1. Coates says in the report he received emails Dec. 2 with concerns about how debris was handled on-site. He went to visit the site and stopped the work on Dec. 4.
James Martin, public information officer for the department, says in the report that the county is cooperating and must provide the department with a work plan outlining how the materials will be removed and where they will be disposed.
Because of possible seasonal weather, department officials are allowing the county to get as much material removed as possible before getting its work plan approved. There is currently no deadline for cleanup to be complete.
The old jail has been vacant since 2010, when a new jail opened in Keene, New Hampshire. The report says the county budgeted $255,000 for the demolition of the building and a nearby daycare house on the grounds of a county-owned nursing home. The budget included transport for construction and demolition (C&D) debris. The county planned to spend $124,000 to demolish the building and $54,000 to remove asbestos from the closed jail.
Coates says in the report that it’s too early to tell how the cleanup will affect the project budgets.