Asbestos records for 21 Cherry St., Somerville at the Department of Environmental Protection
| Submitted | Dec. 24, 2017 |
| Est. Completion | None |
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Communications
From: Alan Moore
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the Massachusetts Public Records Law, M.G.L. c.66, §10, I hereby request the following records:
I live at 23 Cherry St., directly adjacent to 21 Cherry St. in Somerville, MA.
On Oct. 3 or 4, 2017, when I saw interior demolition being performed at 21 Cherry St., I called the City of Somerville Health Department and the Northeast office of the DEP to report that dust was spreading to adjacent properties and likely to the nearby JF Kennedy elementary school on Cherry St. I felt it was unlikely that an asbestos survey of interior materials was ever performed. I reported this health concern to Susan Ruch and Peter Seward of the DEP asbestos dept.
On Oct.4, 2017 the work stopped and afterwards the 2 dumpsters of demo materials were covered. I assume that DEP ordered that the work be stopped and I hope that DEP required an asbestos survey to be performed and performed sampling and analysis for asbestos.
Therefore I request any of the following documents related to this action at 21 Cherry St.: stop work orders, requests for asbestos analyses, the results of any asbestos analyses of dust or demolition materials, work plans for surveying potentially asbestos containing materials, results of any asbestos surveys dumpster disposal, and correspondence with the property owner.
I also request that, if appropriate, fees be waived as we believe this request is in the public interest, as suggested but not stipulated by the recommendations of the Massachusetts Supervisor of Public Records. The requested documents will be made available to the general public free of charge as part of the public information service at MuckRock.com, processed by a representative of the news media/press and is made in the process of news gathering and not for commercial usage.
I expect the request to be filled in an accessible format, including for screen readers, which provide text-to-speech for persons unable to read print. Files that are not accessible to screen readers include, for example, .pdf image files as well as physical documents.
In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.
Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 10 business days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
Alan Moore
From: Department of Environmental Protection
Mr. Moore,
I would like to follow-up with you on your public records request for 21 Cherry St, Somerville. There are documents that we are able to release and others that are responsive to your request but are exempt from the definition of public records or are protected by the Deliberative Process exemption. One option is to send you the non-exempt documents fairly quickly without cost. The other option would require us to send a fee estimate, and upon payment, we would draft an exemption log/letter detailing why we are not able to send you the exempt documents, and then release the non-exempt documents. Please contact me (978 694-3246) to discuss the two options available to you.
Marc Laplante
Records Response Coordinator
MassDEP/NERO
From: Department of Environmental Protection
Hi Alan,
Please see the attached production letter and 6 attachments containing scanned documents responsive to your below request. I will have to send you a few emails because otherwise the large volume of documents attached will exceed the email size limit. If you have any further questions, please contact our press secretary Ed Coletta, who is cced on this email.
Thank you,
Kathleen
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From: Department of Environmental Protection
With four attachments of scanned documents…..
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From: Department of Environmental Protection
An additional four attachments of scanned documents….
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From: Department of Environmental Protection
An additional 5 attachments of scanned documents. This should complete our production. Let us know if you did not receive all 4 emails with their attachments. Thank you.
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From: Alan Moore
Hi,
Thanks so much for your help with this request! I really appreciate it.
Since this project is on-going, and more documents will be produced, must I make subsequent results every few months?
Thanks.
Sincerely,
Alan Moore
From: Department of Environmental Protection
Hi Alan,
You will need to contact us whenever you would like the most recent records, and you may contact us directly if you like. We can tell you that at this time MassDEP does not have any additional documents, other than the documents that were responsive to your original December 24 request.
Thank you
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