Lunt action group lands another $20K grant in Greenfield

Buildings that were once part of the Lunt Silversmiths manufacturing plant off Federal Street in Greenfield.

Buildings that were once part of the Lunt Silversmiths manufacturing plant off Federal Street in Greenfield. STAFF FILE PHOTO/PAUL FRANZ

By ANTHONY CAMMALLERI

Staff Writer

Published: 01-20-2025 9:27 AM

GREENFIELD — The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection awarded the Lunt Neighborhood Action Group $20,000 in Technical Assistance Grant funding as it continues its work to study the former Lunt Silversmiths site’s contamination by the toxin trichloroethylene (TCE).

“Technical assistance, you could think of as interpretive skills — someone who can interpret the jargon and very complex set of regulations,” Lunt Neighborhood Action Group President Glen Ayers said. “Somebody who’s familiar with all of that stuff, who can convey that to the citizens who mostly have no understanding or experience, or limited understanding and experience of dealing with hazardous waste sites.”

The city is working with licensed site professional (LSP) Lyons Witten to study the site while the neighborhood group, with funding, Ayers explained, will pay for the continued hiring of its own LSP, Dan Felten.

This round of funding marks the third consecutive year in which MassDEP awarded a grant to the community group, Ayers explained. Although the grant funding cannot be used toward the site’s actual cleanup, it will fund some of the group’s more technical processes, such as applying for funding through a state environmental bond bill, according to Felten.

“The hope is to be able to have our project included in the bond bill,” Felten said. “We’re working together [with the city] to look at long-range expectations and costs.”

Ayers said roughly $3,000 of the funding will be allocated toward the hiring of a community organizer to arrange regular public meetings to update residents on the process.

The city leases the 298 Federal St. property to 401 Liberty St., a limited liability company that in turn has active subleases with Behavioral Health Network and Clinical & Support Options, and has an agreement that gives the company the option to purchase.

In 2021, the status of the site’s environmental cleanup was first raised after the property was brought before City Council to declare it as surplus and authorize a sale by the mayor. In particular, there is concern about TCE contamination, a toxin that can cause damage to the central nervous system, heart, liver and kidneys, or cancer in humans or animals exposed to it.

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MassDEP notified the city it would, in fact, be conducting an audit of the cleanup in 2022, following the designation of the property as a Public Involvement Plan site. The city is currently working toward its Phase II comprehensive assessment of the cleanup process, which is due to MassDEP by the end of February, as dictated by the state.

At a Lunt public engagement meeting held in September, Health Director Michael Theroux said once the city is able to submit its latest testing results to MassDEP, it will then seek funds either for remediation efforts or further testing. He added that the costs of remediation would ultimately depend on the results of the cleanup project’s second phase — assessing testing results — after it is approved by MassDEP.

“The place was a mess. It was never completely cleaned up. There was some initial cleanup done, but it was not cleaned up,” Ayers said. “That’s the goal — let’s get it stabilized and cleaned up to the best of our ability and make sure that it is safe for everyone in the neighborhood.”

Anthony Cammalleri can be reached at acammalleri@recorder.com or 413-930-4429.