Cleanup begins in polluted Tiverton neighborhood

TIVERTON, R.I.—The clean up is scheduled to start in a Tiverton neighborhood so polluted with arsenic, cyanide, lead and other contaminants that its soil turned blue.

Lawyers for about 150 plaintiffs said work to clean the contaminated soil should begin Monday.

It’s funded by an $11.5 million settlement with Houston-based Southern Union that ended a lawsuit.

The pollution was uncovered in 2002 when a sewer line was dug. A state investigation found the pollution was a byproduct created decades ago when the Fall River Gas Co., now owned by Southern Union, turned coal into gas.

Once the work is complete and approved by the state, residents will once more be allowed to dig in their backyards or build on their property.