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80 MASSACHUSETTS COMMUNITIES WIN ON FEDERAL ENVIRONMENTAL ENFORCEMENT PLAN

Release Date: 02/18/1997
Contact Information: Janine Burke, 617-918-1725

Boston - Eighty Massachusetts communities are receiving computer equipment this week as a result of a settlement with the Massachusetts Highway Department (MHD) reached in late 1994. At that time, EPA officials discovered hazardous waste storage and disposal problems at three of MHD's facilities in violation of RCRA. Problems ranged from leaking and open containers of hazardous materials to storage of flammable paints close to heaters.
The computers, which cost a total of $685,000, are to be used by local emergency planning committees and other community emergency response officials. Training in the new equipment will begin in April.

The following communities are receiving the computer systems: Acton, Amesbury, Andover, Arlington, Attleboro, Bedford, Belmont, Beverly, Billerica, Boston, Braintree, Brockton, Brookline, Burlington, Cambridge, Canton, Chelmsford, Chelsea, Chicopee, Danvers, Dedham, Easthampton, Everett, Fall River, Fitchburg, Framingham, Georgetown, Gloucester, Greenfield, Haverhill, Hingham, Holyoke, Hudson, Lawrence, Leominster, Lexington, Lowell, Lynn, Malden, Mansfield, Marblehead, Medford, Methuen, Milford, Natick, Needham, New Bedford, Newburyport, Newton, North Andover, North Attleborough, Norwood, Peabody, Pittsfield, Quincy, Randolph, Reading, Revere, Salem, Saugus, Somerset, Somerville, South Hadley, Springfield, Stoneham, Swampscott, Taunton, Wakefield, Walpole, Waltham, Watertown, Webster, West Springfield, Westfield, Weymouth, Whitman, Wilmington, Winthrop, Woburn, and Worcester.

The Massachusetts Highway Department also supplied 11 computers to various offices of the state Department of Environmental Protection, and equipment to the State Police, the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency and the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.