Press Release  Attorney General's Office Takes Action Against Two Companies And Their Owners For Dumping Waste Into Town Of Blackstone Wetlands

Boston — Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell has filed suit against Marchand LLC d/b/a Marchand Septic, Marchand Septic Service, Marchand Environmental, and Smart Rentals, Michael L. Marchand, Michael Marchand, and 25 Elm Street LLC (the “Defendants”), alleging violations of the Massachusetts Wetlands Protection Act, Massachusetts Clean Waters Act, State Environmental Code, and Massachusetts Solid Waste Disposal Act for allegedly dumping septic waste, construction and demolition waste, and wood waste into wetlands at their facility in the Town of Blackstone.  

The AGO’s complaint alleges that the Defendants own and operate a facility in the Town of Blackstone, on property containing wetland resource areas that abuts Town property. These wetlands are located within regulated areas protecting some of the Town’s drinking water wells, according to the complaint. It is further alleged that the Defendants filled and damaged the wetlands at the Site and on Town property in connection with their various business activities including septic waste pumping and hauling, solid waste hauling, storage, and disposal, demolition, excavation and other site work.  

According to the complaint, the Defendants used wood waste, construction and demolition debris, and other waste to expand the area of the Site available for the Defendants’ business activities, and the Defendants dumped septage from the pumping truck into a large wood pile, resulting in septage seeping into wetland resource areas. In addition, the complaint alleges that the Defendants’ trucks leaked septic waste directly onto the ground, resulting in dangerously high levels of fecal coliform bacteria contamination from human waste in wetland resource areas on Blackstone’s property.   

In the lawsuit, AG Campbell’s office is seeking civil penalties and comprehensive injunctive relief, including appropriate actions to restore the quality of the wetlands and waters. 

This matter is being handled by Assistant Attorney General Vannessa Lawrence of the Attorney General’s Civil Rights Division, Division Chief Betsy Harper, and Assistant Attorney General John S. Craig of the Attorney General’s Environmental Protection Division, with the assistance of Mass DEP Senior Counsel Jennifer Davis, Investigators Stephen Spencer, Timothy Dame, and Jennifer Macionus of the Environmental Strike Force, and Section Chief Judith Schmitz of the Central Regional Office in Worcester. 

###