I live about a mile from a very old town cemetery-it contains graves from ca. 1750 up to the present. I understand that undertakers in the 1800’s used lots of nasty chemicals to embalm the bodies-stuff like compounds of arsenic and mercury! Now, 150 years later, the old coffins are rotting, releasing these noxious chemicals into the ground. What is the EPA’s position on this? Atre old cemetaries as bad as toxic waste dumps? Is the presence of this cemetery hazardous to my health? Finally-who do I sue? If a developer wants to build on an old cemetary site, what kind of cleanup is required?
buddy1, IAAEE (environmental engineer), and I can comment on the environmental aspects of your questions, and can give opinions on the legal aspects (however, it’s not legal advice, as I am not an attorney; any opinions I give are based alone on my prior experience in the environmental field).
Yes, cemeteries can be a source of impact (contamination) to the environment, especially old cemeteries. Over the course of years, as bodies decompose, the embalming fluids are released into the site’s soil and groundwater. The flow of groundwater may carry contaminants from the source (the graveyard) to adjoining properties, and therefore may result in impact to those adjoining properties. So it is theoretically possible that a property near the graveyard could have its soil or groundwater impacted by contaminants migrating from the graveyard.
Note that I said may carry contaminants, and may result in impact to adjoining properties. There are a lot of factors to consider, including:
The actual impact to the graveyard site. Yes, arsenic and mercury may be leaching from the coffins, but in what concentrations? Are contaminants reaching soil and groundwater in levels harmful to human health and the environment? Will they be in concentrations large enough to be transported off-site to neighboring properties?
Impacts to off-site sources. Are there concentrations of contaminants on off-site properties?
Site-specific conditions. Is the soil porous enough to allow groundwater flow off-site? How fast is groundwater flowing? What’s the organic content of the soil? Will there be natural processes in place to help ‘freeze’ impact in place?
Engineering controls. What is the town’s water supply? What are the neighboring properties used for? Will anyone be contacting impacted material?
What state is the site in? Each state has specific regulations for dealing with contamination and different levels of what they consider actionable contamination.
To sum up, before anyone starts getting concerned, an investigation of the graveyard, including soil and groundwater sampling, would be necessary to see if there actually is any contamination. If there is impact, further investigation and modeling can be performed to see whether off-site properties are at risk. Typically, environmental consultants are hired to do these investigations, and the investigations run in the thousands of dollars and up. (We ain’t cheap, what can I say?)
If cleanup is required, it can take a number of different forms. How the site is cleaned up depends on a number of factors: the site use, the levels of contamination, the type of contamination… Without getting into too much detail, it might require excavation, the installation of a treatment system, or it may just require the site being capped with an impermeable barrier (asphalt or concrete). It all depends on what, and how much, you’re dealing with.
As for who is liable, again, this is not a binding legal opinion, just my experience in the field… Generally the owner of a site that is contaminated is liable for that contamination, and if that site contaminates other properties, then the owner is liable for that contamination as well. This is not a hard-and-fast rule; liability doesn’t necessarily transfer with ownership (if the sale agreement specifically addresses liability), but it’s generally the case.
I hope this helps.