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Tag: Rodney Elliott

  • Officials break ground on Chelmsford Water District PFAS treatment plant

    CHELMSFORD — Officials broke ground Wednesday on a major project to build the Crooked Spring PFAS Treatment Facility for the Chelmsford Water District.

    The Crooked Spring facility is Phase 1 of the water district’s larger PFAS remediation project, which also includes a new PFAS treatment facility at the Riverneck Treatment Plant, and a new water main line to connect the Smith Street Treatment Plant. The $43 million project was approved by voters in the water district in the spring of 2024, and the Massachusetts Clean Water Trust Board of Trustees approved a 0% interest loan for the entire project cost. It is being funded through the Massachusetts State Revolving Fund along with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and is estimated to take about two years to completion.

    Officials at the groundbreaking included state Reps. Rodney Elliott and Jim Arciero, a representative from state Sen. Michael Barrett’s office, Chelmsford Select Board member Pat Wojtas, members of the Board of Water Commissioners and officials from AECOM Engineering and Design, Waterline Construction and ResilientCE, the owner’s project manager.

    The treatment for PFAS, which is shorthand for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, will consist of three process trains of pressurized vessels 12 feet in diameter filled with granular activated carbon, which will remove PFAS chemicals to meet state and federal water quality standards. In 2022, PFAS levels of more than 20 parts-per-trillion were detected in the district’s water.

    The project will also include upgrades to the Crooked Springs Water Treatment Plant’s main building and the building of a two-celled spent wash tank with a floating decanting system and recycling pumps.

    The Chelmsford Board of Water Commissioners retained legal counsel in May 2021 to prosecute legal claims related to negligence resulting in PFAS contamination in the town’s water supplies. The water district would eventually join a larger, multi-district litigation over PFAS contamination discovered across the country.

    PFAS chemicals, sometimes called “forever chemicals,” are manmade substances that do not easily break down in nature, and can build up over time in the environment and in our bodies, causing a wide range of possible health complications. The lawsuits the water district joined allege that corporations like 3M, DuPont, Tyco and BASF knew about the dangers of these chemicals, but concealed them anyway.

    In April 2024, 3M settled for $12.5 billion in their case, and a $1.185 billion settlement was preliminarily approved for DuPont earlier that year. In November, a $750 million settlement was approved for Tyco, as was a $316.5 million settlement for BASF.

    The Chelmsford Water District received its first payment of $401,951.24 from its gross $4.2 million award in the 3M settlement in June, while the district’s awards from the other settlements are yet to be disbursed. The district separately filed a $44.5 million special needs claim against 3M and DuPont for the expenses related to this PFAS treatment project, as well as an $83,622 special needs lawsuit against Tyco and BASF.

    Originally Published:

    Peter Currier

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  • Cha-ching: MSBA pays out cost overrun on Lowell High rebuild

    Cha-ching: MSBA pays out cost overrun on Lowell High rebuild

    LOWELL — The Massachusetts School Building Authority cut a check for $10,594,239 to the city of Lowell in March.

    The money represents a partial reimbursement of supplemental funding that was approved for school building projects across the commonwealth in the fiscal 2024 state budget signed last August. Lowell’s share came to almost $37 million.

    “On behalf of State Treasurer Deborah Goldberg, MSBA Chief Executive Officer James MacDonald, MSBA Executive Director Mary Pichetti and the MSBA Board of Directors, we are pleased to provide you with this reimbursement, and we look forward to continuing to work with you on the completion of the Project,” said a notification of payment email from the MSBA obtained by The Sun.

    In 2019, the MSBA voted to commit $210 million to Lowell’s then-$344 million project.

    The rebuild and renovation started in 2020 with the demolition of the doctors’ offices at 75 Arcand Drive, now home to the Riddick Athletic Center.

    In March 2022, representatives from Suffolk Construction and Skanska told the City Council that construction costs were going to be higher from supply-chain increases due to COVID.

    On average, steel went up 139%, curtainwall by 38% and drywall by 24%. Those budget overruns raised the project to its current $381 million cost, with the $38.5 million difference the responsibility of the city and its taxpayers. City councilors have long argued the unexpected costs should be the responsibility of the state.

    State Sen. Ed Kennedy filed legislation to address the issue in January 2023.

    “There are a lot of communities who went to the MSBA and got funding to move ahead with their project,” Kennedy said at the time. “They found out later that the building material costs had skyrocketed, and had raised the price.”

    In addition to Lowell, other communities were over their MSBA-approved budget funding, such as Groton at $16 million, Stoneham at $19 million and Somerville at $30 million.

    The MSBA uses the School Modernization and Reconstruction Trust Fund to fund school building projects, which in turn is funded by taking one penny from every sales transaction in the commonwealth. The Massachusetts sales tax is 6.25%.

    But the funding for Kennedy’s bill came from revenue generated by the Fair Share Amendment, also known as the “millionaire’s tax.” Passed by voters in the last state election, these funds are dedicated to transportation and public education.

    The legislation included 30 school projects estimated to receive approximately $270 million in additional grants based on increased funding limits from the MSBA.

    The supplemental funding was approved by the MSBA’s Board of Directors in October 2023.

    Skanska Project Manager Jim Dowd told the School Building Committee in February that the MSBA increased its maximum facilities grant for the almost $400 million project.

    “The potential for the maximum facilities grant went from $215 million to $252 million, which is a total increase of $36.9 million,” he said.

    Some of that money is against the construction contingency funding, which may not be spent, thereby limiting the remaining $1.5 million overrun burden on the taxpayers of Lowell.

    A construction contingency is money set aside to pay for change orders from new requests or unforeseen construction requirements, and that amount of $21.2 million is built into the overall budget figures.

    As of February, the remaining funds in the contingency account were $17.2 million.

    “There have been 18 change orders to date totaling $3.9 million,” Dowd told the committee.

    The Executive Office of Education will transfer additional funds to the MSBA in April and June, which in turn will disburse remaining funds to the city.

    Kennedy is a member of the School Building Committee and City Manager Tom Golden publicly thanked him for his legislation during the February meeting.

    “Thank you to Senator Kennedy for spearheading this, and the representatives for making sure it got through on the House side,” he said. State Reps. Vanna Howard and Rodney Elliott also sit on the committee.

    “We’re very, very thankful for these additional funds that you shepherded through,” Golden said. “Senator Kennedy, on behalf of the entire city of Lowell and the City Council, I want to say thank you very much.”

    Melanie Gilbert

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  • Mill City miracle: Draper Labs expands to Lowell

    Mill City miracle: Draper Labs expands to Lowell

    LOWELL — A company that operated the computer guidance system that helped land Apollo 11 on the moon is coming to Lowell, to be an anchor tenant in the Lowell Innovation Network Corridor project that was announced last week.

    UMass Lowell Chancellor Julie Chen, flanked by local, state and federal leadership, introduced Draper President and CEO Jerry Wohletz during a welcome ceremony held Thursday at UMass Lowell’s University Crossing, in a room that overlooked the Merrimack River.

    “Today is a milestone in the history of this city,” Chen said. “Because [LINC is] setting in motion a vision that will not only transform UMass Lowell, but will transform this whole region for our students, but also all of the residents of this great city.”

    LINC is an $800 million development plan that leverages the prestige and innovation of the university and the resources and history of the city of Lowell with the job creation capabilities of industry like Draper Labs to envision a vibrant urban village/main street model and economic engine for the city.

    Until ground is broken on Phase 1 of the project next year, which will construct two industry co-location and professional housing apartment buildings, Draper Labs will temporarily move a microelectronics division of about 50 people into university-owned space in Wannalancit Mills.

    According to its website, Draper Labs “is an innovation company that pursues scientific advancements to solve that nation’s toughest national security problems for the betterment of the nation and secure democracy around the globe.”

    Pulling together this transformative project with a $600 million investment is Wexford Science & Technology, a company known for its mixed-use, amenity-rich, innovation-focused communities blending industry/university community models. It responded to a request for proposal that UMass Lowell sent out 16-18 months ago.

    The project will bring new housing, economic development, technology jobs and workforce development to downtown Lowell.

    The planning for this campus-style industry initiative was more than 12 years in the making, said UMass President Marty Meehan.

    “Some of the parcels that are involved in this, we acquired in 2010, 2011,” he said. “This was a vision that was set out over a long period of time.”

    That vision moved from the planning stage to implementation with support from Gov. Maura Healey and U.S. Rep. Lori Trahan, both of whom were in attendance at the morning event. They were joined by Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll, state Sen. Ed Kennedy and state Reps. Vanna Howard, Rodney Elliott and Rady Mom. In the audience were several Lowell city councilors, former Congresswoman Niki Tsongas and Middlesex Community College President Phil Sisson, among others.

    Healey said her administration would draw on LINC as a “marquee” example of innovation in the commonwealth. The state was recently awarded $19.7 million to establish the Northeast Microelectronics Coalition Hub, a regional hub that will advance the microelectronics needs of the U.S. Department of Defense while spurring new jobs, workforce training opportunities and investment in the region’s advanced manufacturing and technology sectors.

    “This is a space in which we’ve done really, really well,” Healey said. “Microelectronics is an example of a sector that is growing and that is key to our future and it’s going to happen here. I’m really pumped about this. Lowell deserves this … it’s good for the country.”

    Trahan brought the federal government to the table with CHIPS Act and other funding.

    The $280 billion CHIPS Act, which stands for Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors, was passed in July 2022 to bring semiconductor manufacturing back to the United States.

    “We’ve secured investments that will position the Mill City for a multibillion economic and jobs boom the likes of which hasn’t happened here since the Industrial Revolution,” Trahan said.

    Wohletz said Draper needs talent, and lots of it. The company is doubling its staff of 2,400 in the coming years. It has campuses across the U.S., including Massachusetts with its headquarters in Cambridge and the U.S. Navy Integrated Repair Facility in Pittsfield.

    “Draper views UMass Lowell’s microelectronics program as one of the top programs in the region,” Wohletz said. “We view UMass Lowell as a strategic partner and a resource for state and federal engagement and a pipeline for engineering talent.”

    That pipeline includes Middlesex Community College, the Lowell Public Schools system, as well as Greater Lowell Technical High School.

    Several leaders spoke to a brain drain that happens in Lowell, in which promising talent leaves due to a lack of housing. LINC incorporates professional housing as part of the model. The project is expected to add almost 500 new units to the city’s housing stock.

    “LINC will retain and attract professionals to Lowell as well as ramp up economic development, entertainment and culture for Lowell residents,” City Manager Tom Golden said during his welcoming remarks.

    Golden added that the city and UMass Lowell are also planning infrastructure improvements as more people live and work in Lowell.

    The teamwork between the local government, the university and state and federal leadership is what brought Draper Labs to Lowell, Wohletz said.

    “The secret recipe has always been partnerships,” he said. “At the core of these great technology achievements has been a partnership between government, academia and industry. United in solving these tough problems while committed to educating the next generations of engineers and scientists.”

    Melanie Gilbert

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