"Worry Spreads Over General Chemical's Place in the Neighborhood"

"FRAMINGHAM -- Simply because of what it does, General Chemical Corp.'s work is "dirty business," one company official acknowledges.

"We try to be a cooperative neighbor and we have historically done everything that the town has asked us to do," said Roy Swartz, the company's compliance manager.

The dirty work done at the company's Southside facility, though, has produced a record and reputation that's anything but clean.

Since the hazardous waste transfer facility's start at 133 Leland St. in 1960, next to the Woodrow Wilson School, General Chemical has been in trouble with state and federal regulators, been sued by Framingham's fire chief and been the source of panic in the neighborhood over toxic spills.

It's the latest issues, though, that "elevates the level of urgency, the level of concern," said selectmen Chairman Dennis Giombetti.

Besides the need for General Chemical to clean up an existing plume of contaminated soil and groundwater surrounding its facility, lab tests revealed trichloroethene (TCE) and other pollutants were in water that flooded the basement of a family's home at 119 Leland St. in March."

Danielle Ameden reports for the Milford Daily News April 25, 2010.