‘There’s Poison in the Soil’

By Crystal Yormick and Natascha Nussbaum 

DANVERS — When TJ Welch and his family moved here more than two decades ago, he bought a three-bedroom house overlooking the Crane River. 

This serene Boston suburb, with good schools and a history that goes back nearly three centuries, felt like an "oasis" to him. 

Twenty-five years later, the fenced off area across the street, which is full of warning signs, reflects the reality beneath the surface: Welch's home sits just 250 yards from a 17-acre stretch of land contaminated with heavy metals and semi-volatile compounds. 

The former Creese and Cook Tannery, which operated from 1903 until it went bankrupt in 1981, converted raw animal hides and skins into durable leather. The process deposited a range of toxic chemicals and high concentrations of metals into the surrounding soil and water. 

Other tanneries operated for decades before that on the same property. 

This site is just one of many Superfund sites across the United States. While it is estimated that hundreds of thousands of contaminated areas exist throughout the country, only about 1,340 of them have the Superfund designation. Massachusetts has 33.

As in Danvers, many Superfund areas border neighborhoods and homes. They pose significant environmental and human health threats by potentially spreading the harmful effects of toxins and chemicals to surrounding communities. These communities are eligible for cleanup, funded either from a party held liable for the contamination or through Congress's established Superfund.

In Danvers, that cleanup process is finally happening, 13 years after the area was designated for Superfund rehabilitation.

“We always told our kids growing up not to wander down there, because there’s poison in the soil.” — TJ Welch 

HISTORY

The state Department of Environmental Protection first declared the site to be contaminated in 1984 after conducting an investigation. Shortly after this, the Danvers Herald reported that state environmental officials downplayed the potential human health risks of people living near the area. 

Twenty-six years later, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency began investigating and planning for toxin removal at the site in 2010 after finding semi-volatile compounds in the soil as well as lead and arsenic levels exceeding federal limits. Some lead levels exceeded EPA standards by 2,000 percent. They officially designated it as a Superfund site in 2013. 

Long-term exposure to arsenic can cause cancer, stillbirth, lung disease, and kidney failure. Lead exposure, particularly in children, can cause brain damage, attention disorders, and hypertension.

In 2018, the EPA estimated the Danvers cleanup would cost $24 million.

The EPA typically compels the company or people responsible for the contamination to pay the bill. But the Creese and Cook tannery closed decades ago, so funding will come from Superfund money set aside by Congress. 

EFFECT ON THE COMMUNITY

Welch moved into his Danvers home in 2001 and watched the site sit unattended for almost 10 years. His 25-year-old son, Owen, grew up playing on the property, which lacked any barriers or warning signs until 2009, following a lawsuit against the site's owner, he said.

Jacob Macadams, a Danvers resident of 13 years and childhood friend of Owen, said the warning signs near the former tannery were vague and provided "no indication" that the area should be avoided or could harm him. 

"That didn't really dissuade anyone," Owen Welch said. "We kind of still go down there a bit."

Referring to the site as the "radioactive place," Macadams thought it would never go away because "no one really cared."

“It was always kind of just this thing in the background, Macadams said “It was never a point of contention for any adults in the area. Maybe it probably should have been."

Richard Reibstein, a former Superfund employee and senior lecturer of environmental law and policy at Boston University, said a lack of concern from residents is normal when it comes to Superfund areas and other contaminated sites. “If this is your choice to live here, or if you don’t have a choice and you have to live here, either way, it’s not something you really think about,” he said. 

The Danvers site hosted a public meeting in March of 2025 to update the community on the cleanup and released a site fact sheet that same month. Superfund has the “concept of engagement” through community meetings and involvement, Reibstein said, but without proper staffing and accessibility, this isn’t enough. 

Ralph Ciruolo, owner of the Crane River Laundromat, which borders portions of the site, called the cleanup a "waste of money." He said the EPA has failed to dig up and clean paved areas. 

In 2019, EPA officials committed to excavating 3 feet of soil across most of the property above the 100-year flood plain, excluding some areas covered by buildings or pavement. But its records contradict some of these plans, stating that the "estimated maximum depth of contaminants" requiring excavation is 4 feet.  

The EPA also delayed remediation of the Crane River until an unannounced future date, despite reporting that sludge — also known as solid waste — was "directly discharged into the Crane River."

Charlotte Gray, EPA Community Involvement Coordinator for the Creese and Cook Tannery site, wrote in a statement that the EPA will ensure future digging of the areas with residual soil containing contaminants will require dust control and other protective measures to prevent exposure to the public. 

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT

Daniel Coyle, who lives near the site, has lived in Danvers since 2006. Coyle said he is sometimes concerned about contaminants in the air because he occasionally smells hat the unpleasant odors from the site. The tannery was known for its foul-smelling basins that were often left baking in the sun outside the Tannery's beamhouse. 

The EPA is required to monitor and test the soil for five years before the land can be used again. 

The 2019 Record of Decision states the Danvers site will be cleaned to levels that allow the land to be redeveloped for residential or recreational use. However, neither the EPA nor the town of Danvers has indicated what will become of the site. 

A Danver's local official said the town is not involved with the cleanup process, which is being handled entirely by the EPA and Charter Contracting Company, a Boston firm hired to work on the site. 

Some Superfund sites have been associated with decreased life expectancy of nearby residents. However, a 2025 study published in Nature Communications found the impact of living near a site on personal well-being remains understudied.

“Superfund in particular is kind of poignant in this way,” Reibstein said. “Because you’ve got these very endangered people right next to it, and they really need the help. But if you average out the problem, the ordinary citizen doesn’t really care about it that much.”

Some residents seem resigned to the possibility that the site, and the many other toxins they are exposed to every day, might be making them sick. 

Reibstein said the most comfortable way to live in or near a contaminated site is to ignore the risks. However, he said rather than ignoring them, residents living next to these sites should instead look at the problems and see what they can do to reduce their particular exposure.

“If you’re living in an area where it [has] contaminated the groundwater, get yourself the water filter,” he said. “Knowing [about the contamination] makes you understand why the water filter is worth the expense.”

Looking forward, remediation on the Creese and Cook Tannery site is slated to be finished by fall 2026. However, insufficient resources for Superfund sites nationwide limit the speed in which they can be cleaned, and climate change increases the risk of contamination spreading. 

Extreme weather events are becoming more common. Frequent storms, flooding, and wildfires increase the possibility of contaminants being spread further into local communities. For the 13 million Americans living within 3 miles of a Superfund site, climate change and environmental contamination are becoming a dangerous combination.

The EPA is subject to federal regulations that set limits on the level of pollutants that can remain in the area after remediation, but the federal government modified these limits in October. The EPA can now leave three times more lead in soil than was previously allowed. 

The Trump administration said this change would streamline and speed up cleanups. During his first administration, Trump's EPA cleaned fewer Superfund sites than the past three administrations. This follows suit with the reduced funding for Superfund projects in recent years.

Contamination will continue to persist as long as toxics are present in society through processes like transportation, manufacturing and waste disposal methods, Reibstein said. 

While Superfund sites are areas where “contamination gets concentrated enough for people to notice,” these areas are everywhere, he said. 

In Danvers, most residents plan to continue on with their lives as usual.

“Maybe one day I’ll find out all the water I was drinking was messed up, or I shouldn’t have been down there,” Owen Welch said. “But you know everything causes problems nowadays. I got microplastics probably floating around in my brain and stuff like that anyway." 

Crystal Yormick is a senior studying journalism at Boston University and is managing editor at the student publication The Daily Free Press. You can reach her at cyormick@bu.edu. Natascha Nussbaum is a master's of public health candidate at BU's School of Public Health you can reach her at natanuss@bu.edu.