New Hampshire Ball Bearings will now own the contaminated South Municipal Well property that the company has attempted to restore for over 40 years.
The Peterborough Select Board unanimously approved the $110,000 sale and the company’s conditions to shut down the site on Tuesday.
The contamination from the manufacturing plant was first noticed in 1982. Ever since, NH Ball Bearings has worked with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the state Department of Environmental Services to contain and clean up pollution in the soil, wetlands and groundwater on its property and at the South Well across the street.
As shown in the company’s list of sale conditions, that work is not done.
The sale requires that the town set aside its claims and obligations against NH Ball Bearings, including the town’s inability to use the property or groundwater within the Groundwater Protection Zone for drinking water, the shortage of accessible drinking water from the area and the lost revenue from drinking water.
In addition, the town will commit to not pump any water from the site for 99 years.
With ownership, the manufacturing plant will place a conservation restriction on the well site, and the town will collect property taxes. NH Ball Bearings is required to continue to work with the EPA and state government to clean up the site even after purchase.
Town Administrator Nicole MacStay said the select board has yet to decide where the $110,000 in revenue will go.
“As the property was owned by the water utility, it would make sense to put it towards the water utility, potentially,” MacStay said. “We know that there’s a lot of work that needs to be done in the water system.”
NH Ball Bearings formally offered to buy the contaminated well site in a letter to the town on June 18, which the planning board, conservation commission and heritage commission all recommending the sale. The select board held two public hearings in September and received no public objections before voting on the sale.