(AGENPARL) – lun 12 agosto 2024 Issued: Aug 12, 2024 (11:48am EDT)
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EPA New England celebrates major milestone at Somersworth Superfund Site
Groundbreaking for the construction of a solar farm on reclaimed land is a
first of its kind for New Hampshire
Contact Information: JoAnne Kittrell, (617) 918-1822,
SOMERSWORTH, NH (Aug. 12, 2024) – Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) joined Congressman Chris Pappas and the City of Somersworth to
celebrate the groundbreaking for construction of a new solar array at the site
of the former Somersworth Sanitary Landfill. This is the first time in New
Hampshire that a portion of a Superfund site has been redeveloped into a solar
farm.
By having a portion of this site become a solar farm it upholds a key goal of
the Superfund Program, to return Superfund sites to productive use. The
Biden-Harris administration has set out to creating a cleaner and greener
future for the country, with special consideration being taken for communities
with environmental justice concerns.  
The 2,577 kW-DC / 1,992 kW-AC solar PV project is expected to generate
3,523,443 kWh in Year 1 and more than 67 million kWh over the next 20 years.
This renewable energy will positively impact hundreds of peoples in the
Somersworth community.   
“We applaud the site team for their diligent work to clean up this
portion of the site – and recognize the transformative decision of the City
of Somersworth to repair the harm and invest in the health of their community
and environment,” said EPA New England Chief of Staff Sanjay Seth. “We
thank our state and federal partners for their resolve and dedication to help
make this project happen.”
“Making smart investments in our clean energy infrastructure is a critical
step to ensuring we continue to lower costs for Granite Staters while putting
our nation on the road to a more sustainable energy future,” said U.S.
Representative Chris Pappas. “I was glad to join federal, state, and local
partners in Somersworth this afternoon to break ground on the future sight of
this new solar array. By safely and responsibly repurposing a former landfill
site, we are protecting the health and safety of our communities and
environment while strengthening our clean energy infrastructure in the
Seacoast. I remain committed to lowering the cost of energy and creating a
clean energy future here in New Hampshire.”
“Superfund sites, like the former Somersworth Sanitary Landfill, present
unique challenges for Granite State communities and are often left vacant
despite their high potential for redevelopment,” said U.S. Senator Jeanne
Shaheen. “I’m thrilled that with the help of federal funding from the
Biden-Harris Administration, the City of Somersworth is breaking ground on a
solar farm that will both repurpose their former landfill and also provide
clean energy to the community.”
“New Hampshire is continuing to modernize our infrastructure, including
through building a new solar array at the former Somersworth Landfill,” said
U.S. Senator Maggie Hassan. “This new solar array will help our state build
a clean energy future that will also help lower energy costs – and by
finding a way to make use of this unoccupied land, is another example of New
Hampshire’s innovation and ingenuity.”
“This Solar project is an important step towards increasing sustainability
efforts in our Somersworth Community and aligns with other similar efforts in
our Region and in our State,” said City of Somersworth Mayor Matt Gerding.
“It is important that we collectively welcome green energy as another
element of our collective energy portfolio. On behalf of the City of
Somersworth, I want to express our excitement for this long-awaited
groundbreaking as it repurposes City-owned land that otherwise had very
limited use. I want to express my appreciation and sincere thanks for all the
hard work, effort, and collaboration put forth by our City Council and City
staff with Ameresco in reaching this public-private partnership that resulted
in bringing this important Solar project to fruition. I also want to
acknowledge the assistance of our regulatory partners, staff from the US EPA
and NH DES, in their steadfast participation and support in moving this
project to reality.”
EPA will continue to work with the City of Somersworth to monitor the
site.  
Information about the site and contact information if you have questions
can be found at: http://www.epa.gov/superfund/somersworth. 
Background  
The Site is located on Blackwater Road, about 1 mile southwest of the center
of the City of Somersworth in Strafford County, New Hampshire. The Site is the
location of a former sanitary landfill that accepted municipal and industrial
wastes from the mid-1930s to 1981. Waste-burning activities also occurred
on-site until 1958. The 26-acre landfill is located north of Blackwater Road
and drains west to Peters Marsh Brook and an adjacent wetland. Waste disposal
activities at the landfill resulted in contamination of groundwater with
volatile organic compounds (VOCs), including chlorinated ethenes. 
After landfill activities ended at the Site in 1981, the City of Somersworth
installed monitoring wells at the Site and identified VOC contamination in
Site groundwater. As a result of the contamination, EPA added the Site to the
Superfund program’s National Priorities List (NPL) in 1983. The site’s
1994 cleanup plan included use of an innovative chemical
treatment wall (CTW) to detoxify VOCs as the groundwater flows through the
wall, with a final cap to be determined after cleanup. Construction of the CTW
finished in 2000. A permeable soil cover, which allows precipitation to flush
contaminants from the landfill through the CTW, plus an infiltration gallery
and a bedrock extraction well, which both help in the flushing of the
contaminated groundwater, were completed in 2001.
The City of Somersworth owns the landfill property and much of the wetland
areas northwest of the landfill. Reuse at the Site after landfill closure
began in 1978 when the city redeveloped approximately 10 acres of the eastern
portion of the landfill into a recreation area, which included ball fields and
basketball courts. Use of these recreation facilities was discontinued in
2011, except for a paved basketball court on the southern fringe of the
landfill. The Site remained largely unused until the solar array project that
breaks ground August 12, 2024.
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