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Image courtesy of JLL
An environmental lawsuit that claims climate change will increase the likelihood of oil spills into the Mystic River is delaying attempts to redevelop the sprawling ExxonMobil tank farm site in Everett.
The Davis Cos. of Boston presented preliminary plans to Everett officials in August for a mixed-use development on the 95-acre property, transforming the oil tank farm into up to 4.2 million square feet of industrial, multifamily, office and lab space.
The purchase-and-sale agreement was recently canceled, the Boston Globe reported, amid an ongoing legal dispute between Boston-based Conservation Law Foundation and the current property owner, ExxonMobil.
A projected sea level rise of four feet would inundate much of the terminal property risk the discharge of oil into the Mystic River watershed, CLF attorneys argued in the original complaint alleging violations of the Clean Water Act.
The tank farm is authorized to discharge stormwater and other runoff from a 1,500-foot-long culvert into Islands End River, a tributary of the Mystic River. In a settlement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, ExxonMobil agreed to redesign an effluent treatment system and use a tank that stores stormwater during peak flow periods, the lawsuit stated, and implement a spill prevention plan. The complaint cited a severe rainstorm in 2010 that caused pollutants to flow into the Mystic River.
Environmental groups have mobilized in reaction to interest in large-scale development projects in the industrial waterfront section of Everett, including a potential professional soccer stadium at the Constellation Energy power plant property.
The property is located in a designated port area which restricts development to marine-dependent uses and limits the size and height of buildings.
An attempt to remove the Alford Street property from the DPA was part of the economic development bill shelved by legislators at the end of the recent session, and CLF denounced the move as a “backroom, dead-of-night legislative mischief” designed to skirt a review by state environmental regulators.
