FRAMINGHAM - The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) held a public meeting on Tuesday, June 4, at Harmony Grove Elementary School to provide updates on cleanup efforts at the former General Chemical Corporation site.

The contaminated property on Leland Street has laid dormant for years after General Chemical ceased operations there in 2012. It operated as a plant for petroleum storage in the 1920’s before becoming a place to keep hazardous materials for General Chemical around the 1960’s.

During those decades, harmful chemicals and materials seeped into the site’s soil and groundwater. Contaminants such as tetrachloroethylene and trichloroethylene—both of which are considered probable carcinogens by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency—have been previously detected at the General Chemical facility. The toxic nature of the property has caused residents to move, homes to be destroyed, and for the area to be abandoned.

Back in 2021, the state legislature secured $12 million from the federal American Rescue Plan Act for cleanup work at the General Chemical property. Since then, MassDEP officials explained on Tuesday that thermal treatment has been carried out to vaporize hazardous chemicals. About 4,000 pounds of chlorinated solvents have been removed in recent years, according to state officials.

Plenty of work remains ahead of MassDEP and local stakeholders at the General Chemical site, as state officials told residents on Tuesday that the next major step is to demolish a warehouse that is believed to be a major source of contamination. Estimated to cost $450,000, MassDEP officials noted that demolition is slated to start in late June or July before wrapping up in four to six weeks from that point. Then, more soil and groundwater research is expected to take place in the summer and early fall in order to determine the warehouse’s contamination footprint.

MassDEP added that preliminary designs for more thermal treatments are set to be drawn up in the late fall and early winter, before more thermal work is conducted in the spring or summer of 2025. State officials explained that they’ll be attempting to do that work when school is out of session for the summer; Harmony Grove Elementary is just a few hundred feet away from the General Chemical area.

As for future redevelopment for the General Chemical property, MassDEP officials could not conjure a possible timeline or use for the area.