Toxic Release Prompts Allston Residents To Question Risks of Harvard Construction

A toxic chemical was inadvertently released into the air during a Harvard construction project earlier this month, prompting Allston residents at a special meeting called by the University Monday night to express concern over future health risks as construction continues.

On August 1, employees from Turner Construction—the company responsible for building Harvard's 589,000-square-foot science complex—caused a leak while relining a 300-foot portion of the century-old, brick-lined sewer pipe that runs along Western Avenue.

Around 4 a.m., construction crews were pumping near-boiling water into the pipe to set the lining, when visible plumes of styrene-contaminated wator vapor started to shoot out of a manhole near Seattle Street.

"We did not anticipate that we would have this issue when we released the water down the sewer line," Philip Coleman, the Turner construction manager for Harvard's science complex, said during Monday's meeting. "We didn't see this coming."

Coleman also told the crowd of over 30 Allston residents that his company has yet to determine exactly what caused the leak.

Styrene is commonly used in the manufacture of plastics, rubbers, and other resin compounds. Short-term exposure to the chemical can cause irritation of mucous membranes and gastrointestinal effects, while long-term exposure can damage the central nervous system, causing headaches, fatigue, or depression.

After Turner Construction was notified of the leak the same morning, officials from Turner and its subcontractor Spiniello Construction, used fans to divert the fumes away from the neighborhood. They also channeled the contaminated water into the Boston Water and Sewer bypass, mixing and diluting it.

By the following Monday, August 4, the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority officially issued a cease and desist order on the pipe renovation until the situation is completely resolved.

"We have to make sure that this community is safe," said Boston Transportation Commissioner Thomas J. Tinlin at the meeting. "Nothing further is going to happen until we insist upon certain measures."

Although Coleman outlined the ways in which his company would modify the process in order to prevent a situation like this from arising again—using a chemical to reduce the toxic effects of styrene and employing several monitoring techniques—and despite the assurances of an industrial hygienist who said that community members had no reason to be concerned about long-term health effects, those in attendance said that they worried about the possibility of a recurrence.

"It sounds like you're planning on continuing this kind of operation. I think you should change what you're doing here," said Alex Selvig, who unsuccessfully ran for the Allston-Brighton council seat in the preliminary election last fall. "This styrene release can't happen again."

Though Harvard representatives and Turner Construction notified residents in the immediate area about the release of styrene when the incident occurred, some residents said they were upset that the broader community was not notified in detail about the incident until a week later.

Harvard's Director of Community Relations in Boston, Kevin A. McCluskey '76, said that the University is committed to working with the community as construction moves forward and that they wanted to gather as much information as possible before notifying the broader community of the styrene leak.

"To have pulled you together very quickly and said that something happened, but not be able to say what happened and not be able to say the steps we're going to take would have been very fruitless," he said. "We need to move forward with the lessons we've learned from this."

Representatives from the University and Turner said crews will resume construction once they get the go-ahead from the city.

—Staff writer Laura A. Moore can be reached at lamoore@fas.harvard.edu.