The Massachusetts attorney general’s office is hauling Agretech Corporation into federal court, accusing the company of letting contaminated runoff from its Dracut scrap-and-recycling yard seep into the Merrimack River in violation of the federal Clean Water Act. The complaint, filed in U.S. District Court in Boston with the Commonwealth as plaintiff, sets the stage for a fight that could end with court-ordered cleanup and civil penalties if the allegations hold up.
According to the Eagle-Tribune, the lawsuit claims runoff from Agretech’s Dracut yard carried contaminants into the river and that the company failed to put adequate controls in place to prevent or manage discharges covered by federal law. The local outlet reports that the complaint describes repeated seepage from the site along the Merrimack and characterizes the case as a Clean Water Act enforcement action. River advocates and municipal officials in the valley say they are keeping an eye on the filings as the case moves ahead.
Agretech identifies the Dracut operation as its primary processing yard and lists its corporate offices in Andover, according to Agretech’s website. The company touts decades of work in recycling and aggregate processing there. Enforcement activity in the Merrimack watershed has been steady in recent years; for example, a 2024 EPA release details a settlement that requires sewer upgrades in Lowell to reduce discharges to the river.
What the state says
The new complaint alleges that stormwater and other runoff leaving the Dracut yard carried material into the Merrimack and that Agretech did not have sufficient controls in place to stop those flows. Citing the federal Clean Water Act, the attorney general is asking the court to halt any ongoing discharges and to order corrective steps aimed at protecting downstream water users. Those claims and requested remedies will be tested as the case works through federal court.
Merrimack context
The Merrimack River has long wrestled with water-quality problems tied to urban stormwater, sewage overflows and old industrial pollution, which makes fresh enforcement actions in the basin stand out. Stormwater and combined sewer overflows remain chronic threats to the river’s health, watershed groups and assessments have found, according to the Mass Rivers Alliance. That backdrop helps explain why residents and local officials tend to track new contamination allegations so closely…