FALL RIVER -- Concerned citizens, community activists and City Councilor Patricia Casey are calling on the state to conduct further toxic soil testing in Fall River’s South End near the Tiverton border.
The group gathered on the corner of Bay Street and State Avenue Wednesday to raise awareness for the issue.

"This is a concern and this needs to be addressed," Casey said. "The hope is that the Massachusetts (Department of Environmental Protection) does more intensive testing."

In May, New England Gas Co. -- on orders from the state -- completed testing on several properties near the Tiverton border for contamination and determined that the toxins discovered in the Bay Street area of Tiverton several years ago were not present in Fall River.

But Hilary Noll, a community organizer from the Toxics Action Center, a New England-based environmental group, said some South End residents have come across "very suspicious material" including "several eyewitness accounts of a blue soil," which she called a "clear indication of coal and coal gasification waste."

"The only way to ensure healthy families is to do more tests," Noll said.

Arnold Street resident Jonathan Mello said he has encountered this toxic soil.

"I’ve seen it twice -- about eight years ago when I put my pool in and had to level the ground," Mello said. "I saw little black spots, blue spots and I saw a lot of spots when they did the (Combined Sewage Overflow) tunnel two or three years ago."

New England Gas has paid for testing on more than 150 properties in the Bay Street area of Tiverton. The testing showed that many of the properties are contaminated with a number of chemicals and compounds including arsenic, cyanide, lead and petroleum byproducts that are considered carcinogenic.

In 2002, Rhode Island identified New England Gas as the party potentially responsible for the contaminants. Owners of 75 properties in the Tiverton neighborhood have sued the company and are seeking damages and to have their properties cleaned.

Community activist and city resident Joseph Carvalho said more than 600 Fall River residents have signed a petition calling on DEP to conduct further testing.

"Every day that passes potentially places citizens in this area at risk," Carvalho said. "It could be prevented if DEP comes in and conducts more extensive tests."

Noll said the petitions were going to DEP Wednesday as part of the request for more testing.

According to Jay Rasky, a field director for the Toxics Action Center, when he recently spoke to a DEP official he was told the state didn’t have to conduct additional testing.

A DEP report, which Noll had on hand at Wednesday’s gathering, said 12 of 69 soil samples contained an excess of polycyclic aeromatic hydrocarbons and 10 had excesses of lead or beryllium.

But Noll said DEP was able to "wave it off" as remnants from "citizens back in the day when they burned coal."

Theresa Barao, a public information officer for DEP, said the instances of excess were "consistent with urban background" and that no further cleanup is required.

"There is no indication that more testing would change that," Barao said. "If it’s urban background, it’s going to be urban background."

Barao said the findings showed no link to the Tiverton situation and that further testing is "unlikely."

But if residents such as Mello have "additional information," Barao said they can "pass it on" to DEP. DEP initially became involved with New England Gas last summer per the request of Mayor Edward M. Lambert Jr. after he heard about the situation in Tiverton.

"It is our understanding that there are no (instances of exceeding) reportable levels of material relating to coal gasification or any other contaminants," Director of Municipal Services James Smith said. "I haven’t heard from DEP anything to the contrary. I’m interested in hearing from individuals or residents of Fall River that feel they are affected by this. If there is any evidence of this, we will be contacting DEP ourselves."

Smith said city officials reached out to Mello Wednesday and will meet with him next week.

E-mail Daniel Fowler at dfowler@heraldnews.com.