atlas tack corp.

PLEASANT ST

The Atlas Tack Corporation Superfund Site (site) is located at 83 Pleasant Street in Fairhaven, Massachusetts, approximately 0.5 miles from Fairhaven Center. The site includes the entire Atlas Tack Corp. (Atlas Tack) property (currently owned by Atlas Tack), property adjacent to the Atlas Tack facility owned by Hathaway-Braley Wharf Company, Inc. and portions of Boys Creek and the adjacent saltwater tidal marsh extending to Buzzards Bay. The area surrounding the Atlas Tack facility is primarily residential to the north and west. There is a bike path just north of the site and an elementary school about 200 feet to the northwest. Wetland and tidal marsh areas extend to the south and east. The Fairhaven hurricane barrier, constructed in the mid-1960s, cuts through the tidal marsh. To the north of the hurricane barrier, the Atlas Tack property comprises approximately 13.6 acres of commercial area (including a number of now defunct buildings) and 7.2 acres of wetland. The Hathaway-Braley property, a 3.2 acre unimproved parcel on Church Street, abuts the south side of the Atlas property and is also a disposal area. Approximately 20 acres of tidal marsh south of the hurricane barrier have also been contaminated by migration of hazardous substances from the source areas located on the Atlas Tack and Hathaway-Braley properties. The Atlas Tack facility was built in 1901 and manufactured cut and wire tacks, steel nails, and similar items until 1985. From the 1940s until the late 1970s or 1980s, wastes containing cyanide and heavy metals were discharged into an unlined acid neutralizing lagoon located approximately 200 feet east of the manufacturing building and adjacent to a saltwater tidal marsh in Buzzards Bay Estuary. Process wastes containing acids, metals such as copper and nickel and solvents were discharged into drains in the floor of the main building. Some of these chemicals have permeated the floors and timbers of the building and have migrated to adjacent soils and groundwater. Other contaminated areas at the site include a filled wetland, a former dump, and other chemical spills. The area is zoned as residential and commercial. Approximately 7,200 people live within a one mile radius, and approximately 15,150 people live within three miles of the site.