Session Laws

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

SECTION 1. Notwithstanding the provisions of sections forty E to forty J, inclusive, of chapter seven of the General Laws or any other general or special law to the contrary, the commissioner of the division of capital planning and operations is hereby authorized and directed to transfer by deed, in a form approved by the attorney general, to the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority hereinafter referred to as MWRA the land described in section two in the towns of Walpole and Norfolk, said land currently being used for public correctional purposes, for the public purpose of providing a landfill site, unless an alternative site is developed and approved by the Federal District Court, for disposal of grit, screenings, and, if necessary, sludge or sludge products from metropolitan Boston sewerage treatment facilities.

SECTION 2. The land to be the subject of such transfer is shown on a plan filed at the offices of MWRA and entitled "Plan of Land in Walpole, Mass. (Norfolk County) prepared for Massachusetts Water Resources Authority", Scale 1"=80', dated March 7, 1989 and Revised June 14, 1989, prepared by Bryant Associates Inc., and is more particularly described as follows:

Beginning at a point on the southwesterly streetline of Winter Street about 482 feet northwest of the intersection of the westerly streetline of Main Street with said southwesterly streetline of Winter Street;

Thence turning and running by land now or formerly of Kenneth W. Roberts and Marie V. Roberts S 12 Degrees 55'48"W a distance of 48.34 feet to a point;

Thence turning and running by land now or formerly of said Roberts S 10 Degrees 29'28"W a distance of 20.40 feet to a point;

Thence turning and running by land now or formerly of said Roberts S 05 Degrees 47'32"E a distance of 43.19 feet to a point;

Thence turning and running by land now or formerly of Lawrence C. Dolan and Deborah A. Dolan and said Roberts S 00 Degrees 53'12"E a distance of 211.53 feet to a point;

Thence turning and running by land now or formerly of said Dolan, Frederick Burgess Walker and Lynda Kissell Burgess, Robert N. White and Helen S. White, and James M. Lamonica and Janet C. Lamonica S 25 Degrees 06'02"E a distance of 541.38 feet to a point;

Thence turning and running along said westerly streetline of Main Street S 18 Degrees 05'35"W a distance of 602.12 feet to a point;

Thence turning and running along said westerly streetline of Main Street S 19 Degrees 21'16"W a distance of 260.88 feet to a point;

Thence turning and running S 59 Degrees 21'16"W a distance of 183.06 feet to a point;

Thence turning and running N 70 Degrees 41'17"W a distance of 1145.69 feet to a point;

Thence turning and running N 20 Degrees 41'17"W a distance of 237.86 feet to a point;

Thence turning and running S 67 Degrees 18'43"W a distance of 345.10 feet to a point;

Thence turning and running by the line dividing the Towns of Walpole and Norfolk N 22 Degrees 35'34"W a distance of 2,323.01 feet to a point;

Thence turning and running by land now or formerly of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts S 88 Degrees 35'49"E a distance of 705.59 feet to a point;

Thence turning and running by land now or formerly of Joseph L. Benson and Rita E. Benson S 01 Degrees 24'11"W a distance of 568.77 feet to a point;

Thence turning and running by land now or formerly of said Benson N 74 Degrees 08'36"E a distance of 475.86 feet to a point;

Thence turning and running by land now or formerly of said Benson N 70 Degrees 08'36"E a distance of 502.78 feet to a point;

Thence turning and running along said southwesterly streetline of Winter Street S 58 Degrees 52'22"W a distance of 635.33 feet to a point;

Thence running along said southwesterly streetline of Winter Street by a curve to the right having a radius of 4,200.00 feet, a distance of 207.69 feet to a point;

Thence running along said southwesterly streetline of Winter Street S 56 Degrees 02'22"E a distance of 293.26 feet to the point of beginning.

The above described land contains an area of approximately 94.0+ acres.

SECTION 3. Said transferred land, if developed by the MWRA may be used only for the purposes of construction, operation, and maintenance of a landfill for grits and screenings from metropolitan Boston sewerage treatment facilities and as a back up site for the disposal of sludge or sludge products from said facilities if the MWRA proposed sludge pelletizing plant becomes non-operational or if the MWRA is unable to fully market the fertilizer pellets produced by the said facilities or otherwise dispose of such pellets for beneficial reuse or land application. Such transferred land shall not be used for any other purpose including but not limited to disposal of grit, screenings, sludge or other waste products from any source or project other than as provided in this act. If the transferred land ceases to be used for the purposes authorized herein, all right, title and interest in such transferred land shall revert to the commonwealth.

SECTION 4. The transfer authorized herein shall be subject to an easement in favor of the commonwealth through its department of environmental protection hereinafter referred to as DEP to enter onto the transferred land for the purpose of inspecting the construction, operation, and maintenance of any landfill constructed on the premises, and for the purpose of inspecting and sampling any material being deposited therein to ensure compliance with state and federal laws and regulations and the terms of this act; provided however that officials of the towns of Walpole and Norfolk shall be provided with copies of all inspection and sampling reports prepared or obtained by the DEP, and further provided that the DEP shall promptly conduct such inspections and samplings when and if requested to do so by officials of the towns of Walpole and Norfolk.

SECTION 5. The leachate collection system of the landfill shall be connected through the town of Walpole's sanitary sewer system to the MWRA's sewer service area, and the MWRA shall pay all costs associated with providing and operating such connection in order to dispose of any runoff and leachate generated at the facility.

SECTION 6. Monitoring wells shall be placed at locations reasonably selected by the DEP, after receipt of recommendations of the towns, so as to provide the maximum possible warning of the release of any leachate from the landfill into the groundwater under and about the proposed facility. The boards of health for the towns of Walpole and Norfolk shall be provided with results of all samples taken from monitoring wells. The MWRA shall take such steps as are reasonably required by DEP to remediate any contamination in violation of applicable state and federal laws and regulations.

SECTION 7. The MWRA shall be obligated to maintain the transferred land in a safe condition, and in accord with all applicable state and federal laws and regulations, in order to prevent damage, on-site and off-site, to the health and safety of persons and property. In the event of a reversion, MWRA shall be obligated to take all action necessary to return the transferred land to a safe condition in accord with all applicable state and federal laws and regulations.

SECTION 8. In consideration of such transfer, the MWRA shall pay the commonwealth the amount of one dollar.

SECTION 9. Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, the MWRA shall not commence construction of the landfill on the transferred land prior to September, nineteen hundred and ninety-two, or as otherwise provided by order of the Federal District Court, unless otherwise agreed in writing by the secretary of administration and finance.

SECTION 10. Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, the MWRA board shall establish a program requiring its member cities and towns to accept for their own use, and in accord with any regulations and guidelines for land application and beneficial use of sludge developed by the DEP and the United States Environmental Protection Agency, fertilizer pellets produced by the Boston harbor residuals pelletizing plant that are not sold or otherwise marketed. The MWRA shall be authorized to negotiate with other agencies and authorities of the commonwealth to accept sludge fertilizer products, and the agencies and authorities of the commonwealth shall give priority to the purchase of such products in their procurement of fertilizers. No city or town that is a member of the MWRA district shall promulgate any law or ordinance that would prohibit the receipt or use of said fertilizer pellets. Said program shall be established by the MWRA at least ninety days prior to the operation of the landfill facility.

SECTION 11. Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, if any well used by the town of Walpole or the town of Norfolk, or by the commonwealth, is fouled, contaminated or otherwise rendered unusable, as determined by applicable state drinking standards, due to the construction, operation, or maintenance of the MWRA landfill on the transferred land described herein, the MWRA shall, at its own expense, connect such town, or the commonwealth, to the MWRA water supply system, and provide an amount of water equivalent to that which has been fouled or rendered unusable to said town or commonwealth at an annual rate equivalent to the water rate charged by the town in the year prior to that in which the town or the commonwealth was connected to the MWRA system.

SECTION 12. Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, the MWRA shall indemnify the commonwealth for any liability the commonwealth incurs as a result of the MWRA's use and occupation of the transferred land.

SECTION 13. Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, the MWRA is hereby authorized and shall provide, within a reasonable time, mitigation to the property owners abutting the site of the potential residuals landfill in Walpole.

SECTION 14. The MWRA shall establish a flat fee to be paid to the towns of Walpole and Norfolk on an annual basis as long as the landfill is in operation. Such fee shall be negotiated between the MWRA and the board of selectmen in each town upon the transfer of such property described in this act.

SECTION 15. The MWRA shall, at its sole cost and expense, perform all additional field work required to redesignate the boundary of the head of Neponset sole source aquifer.

SECTION 16. The MWRA shall give job preference to Walpole and Norfolk residents for landfill construction and operation.