DEP Fines Safety-Kleen Systems in Salisbury for Hazardous Waste,  Underground Storage Tank Violations

DEP Fines Safety-Kleen Systems in Salisbury for Hazardous Waste,  Underground Storage Tank Violations

Company Works to Address Violations and Bring Facility Back into Compliance   BOSTON – The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) has penalized Safety-Kleen Systems, Inc., in Salisbury (a Wisconsin-based company), $75,575 for environmental violations found during routine inspections of the company’s licensed hazardous waste treatment storage and disposal facility at 90 Rabbit Road in […]

Civic Group Protests Sewer Charges, Working with EPA Officials to Stop Corruption in Salisbury

Civic Group Protests Sewer Charges, Working with EPA Officials to Stop Corruption in Salisbury

  By: Tom Duggan – September 2015 MORE ON SALISBURY Salisbury beach residents say they are fed up with Town Manager Neil Harrington and the board of selectmen ignoring their complaints about the town overcharging for sewer and water. For those who only have property occupied at the beach during the summer, homeowners are charged […]

Legislation Needed to Hold Landfill Owners, Operators Responsible -IN YOUR CORNER WITH SENATOR KATY IVES

Legislation Needed to Hold Landfill Owners, Operators Responsible -IN YOUR CORNER WITH SENATOR KATY IVES

By: Kathleen O’Connor Ives – March, 2015 The Crow Lane Landfill in Newburyport has long been the source of environmental and public safety concerns since the process of closing and capping the landfill began nearly fourteen years ago. Closure remains unfinished to date. In that time, abutters of the landfill have been subjected to ongoing […]

Reflecting Back and Moving Massachusetts Forward ~ IN YOUR CORNER WITH SENATOR IVES

Reflecting Back and Moving Massachusetts Forward ~ IN YOUR CORNER WITH SENATOR IVES

By: Kathleen O’Connor Ives – January, 2015 In my first legislative session we passed a number of significant laws, including requiring nursing homes, rest homes, or other long term care facilities to first obtain informed, written consent if psychotropic medications are to be administered, along with a description of the side effects. We also passed […]

Human Interference and the Minimum Wage: A Rodent Love Story

As a former zookeeper and environmental educator, I understand the delicate balance required to sustain any ecosystem. The story of the rat-like nutria, Myocastor coypus, and its invasion of New Orleans, is a perfect example of how humans, convinced they know better, can make a major mess of things. A mere 20 of these 12-pound […]

Who Really Cares About the Environment?

Who Really Cares About the Environment?

Just Look Locally at Lawrence and Listen Carefully for the Crickets By: Tom Duggan – March, 2012 In July of 2009 the Valley Patriot wrote an explosive story, publishing Documents that reveled operators at the City of Lawrence’s brand new $26 million water treatment facility had failed to test the city’s drinking water for a […]

An Interview with Presidential Candidate Thaddeus McCotter

An Interview with Presidential Candidate Thaddeus McCotter

Valley Patriot President Tom Duggan and Tea Party Columnist (and activist) Christine Morabito sat down with Congressman Thaddeus McCotter (R) Michigan, in Concord, NH last month for a one on one interview about his campaign for president.     Tom: What is it like running for president? McCotter: It’s great. But it’s a little frustrating […]

Hazardous Waste Leak in Lawrence

Hazardous Waste Leak in Lawrence

By: Tom Duggan – August, 2009 First Mercury then Sodium Bisulfite When Lawrence Mayor Michael Sullivan found out that mercury was being illegally stored at the old water pumping station on South Street two months ago, he ordered Inspectional Services Director Myles Burke and the Lawrence Fire Department to inspect other city owned property to […]

Public should have been told about Lawrence water

VALLEY PATRIOT EDITORIAL   February, 2009 In March and August of 2008, the City of Lawrence did not perform the states’ required monthly chlorite testing on the city’s drinking water. The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection fined the city of Lawrence $5,750 for failing to do those mandated chlorite tests and has warned the city it will face […]