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Eversource proposes soil borings at former Substation 58; conservation commission issues negative determination
Summary
Eversource and contractor TRC told the Woburn Conservation Commission they will install about 20 soil borings and monitoring wells to assess contamination at the inactive Substation 58. Drill work is tentatively scheduled for Aug. 6, with preliminary lab results expected within a week; the commission voted to issue negative determinations allowing the limited assessment work to proceed.
Eversource Energy has permission from the Woburn Conservation Commission to carry out a limited series of soil borings and monitoring‑well installations at the decommissioned Substation 58 on Green Street as a prelude to any future demolition. Mike Martin of TRC, the contractor on the project, told the commission the team plans about 20 borings, roughly 15 of them within the 50‑foot buffer zone, and will return disturbed areas with loam and seed.
The work is intended to assess whether historical electrical equipment released contaminants such as transformer oil or PCBs. “We need to assess the property to make sure if there's any contamination for former leaks that we, you know, identify that so we can, in turn, clean it up,” Mike Martin said. Saskia Oosting of Eversource added that the substation has been inactive since about 1987 and that the current RDA is a first step; any demolition would come later with a separate Notice of Intent.
A resident who lives adjacent to the site, David Fallon, described long familiarity with the property and urged careful testing near the old transformer pad. “I know that there is PCB in the building and in the outside chain link interior,” Fallon told the commission, asking that borings include upland locations near the pad and that the company keep neighbors informed.
TRC said a drill rig is tentatively scheduled for Aug. 6; soil lab results typically arrive within five to seven business days, and groundwater sampling from monitoring wells would follow once the wells have equilibrated (the second week after installation). Eversource said it would provide the commission with the data; if laboratory detections trigger regulatory notifications to MassDEP a different reporting pathway will apply.
The commission voted to close the public hearing on the RDA and to issue negative determinations of applicability (negative 5 and negative 6) that allow the limited assessment borings to proceed without a full NOI at this stage. Commissioners and residents requested that Eversource and TRC share the data table and any required regulatory notifications with the commission when available.
Next steps: TRC will proceed with the field program on the tentative Aug. 6 schedule, compile laboratory data, and provide the conservation commission copies of data tables and a summary of conclusions and any required regulatory notifications.
