Defense Contractor to Pay $1 Million for Groundwater Contamination
Textron Systems Corp. agreed to pay $1 million in a natural resource
damages (NRD) settlement over groundwater contamination caused by
weapons testing, Massachusetts officials announced on Oct. 1.
A consent decree, which was filed jointly with the U.S. Department
of Justice, also addresses and resolves related federal claims. NRD is
a category of legal damages defined by various state and federal
statutes as compensation for injury to, destruction of, or loss of
natural resources, including the reasonable costs of a damage
assessment.
This settlement covers Textron's share of the cost of restoring
injured resources to their baseline condition, compensation for the
interim loss of damaged resources and the cost of conducting damage
assessment.
From 1968 to 1999, Textron or its predecessors, under contracts with
the U.S. Department of Defense, conducted munitions testing in the area
of J-3 Range at Massachusetts Military Reservation (MMR). MMR is a
20,000-acre area of Upper Cape Cod that includes the Massachusetts Air
and Army National Guard, and U.S. Coast Guard command centers. J-3
Range lies above several wellhead protection areas that supply drinking
water for approximately 147,772 permanent and 424,445 peak seasonal
residents of Cape Cod.
The state claims that Textron's development and explosive testing of
tactical weapons systems for the U.S. Army and Air Force contaminated
the groundwater with perchlorate, an inorganic chemical that is highly
mobile in water and can persist for years under typical conditions. In
agreeing to the settlement, TSC does not admit liability for these
activities.
"(This) settlement represents an important step toward funding the
restoration of natural resources on Cape Cod, including public drinking
water resources that have been damaged at MMR," said state Attorney
General Martha Coakley. "While MMR serves as an important military
training facility for our national defense, the environmental impacts
from those activities must be adequately restored to protect the health
and welfare of Cape Cod citizens. We are pleased that Textron Systems
Corp. has agreed to resolve these claims and fund the restoration of
natural resources."
For more information, contact the state Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs at http://www.mass.gov/envir.