The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is covering a half-acre area between the Nashua River and the Nashua city parking lot, and behind the city library, where the ground is contaminated with asbestos. From 1907 until the 1970s, Johns-Manville had a plant in Nashua that made asbestos shingles, roofing and siding materials. Johns-Manville offered its leftover asbestos to builders to use as cheap fill for contruction projects in Nashua and nearby Hudson, and over the decades, asbestos was incorporated into the soil of much of Nashua. Because there are no records of where the fill was used, any time the ground is disturbed, there’s a risk asbestos will be uncovered. No one knows how much asbestos is in the contaminated dirt by the river, and the EPA has decided to cover the area with a protective “cap” made of a special cloth covering and at least six inches of uncontaminated soil. The EPA’s work will cost $140,000, in addition to the city’s costs in revegetating the area. A prohibition against building on the site will prevent the asbestos-contaminated soil from being disturbed and so prevent a future asbestos release.
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