A $224,100 grant through the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection’s Natural Resource Damages Program has been awarded to the Connecticut River Conservancy to support an environmental restoration project that will help restore the harm caused by a 2019 acid spill.

The spill from Barnhardt Manufacturing Co. facilities in Colrain, Mass., killed fish and other aquatic wildlife such as frogs and crayfish.

In late 2021, Barnhardt Manufacturing, a North Carolina-based cotton bleaching company, agreed to pay nearly $1.5 million to settle allegations that it spilled about 60 gallons of concentrated sulfuric acid into the North River, killing more than 270,000 fish, including thousands of state-listed rare species.

The Connecticut River Conservancy, working with the town of Colrain, will use the funding to hire a consultant to design the removal of the Colrain Lower Reservoir Dam. They will also work on stabilizing stream banks adjacent to the Colrain Fire Station. These projects are important for restoring the North River’s ecosystem, which supports cold-water fish, aquatic life, wetlands, and sediment-dwelling organisms.

“For decades, the North River watershed served as a habitat for fish and wildlife, and a recreational resource for fishing, hunting, and shellfishing,” MassDEP commissioner Bonnie Heiple said.

A 2021 consent judgement between the state of Massachusetts, Barnhardt Manufacturing Co., and North River LLC included $225,000 as monetary compensation for injury to and for destruction or loss of natural resources associated with the spill.

The acid soaked into the ground and flowed into a nearby brook and down into the North River, damaging about 14 acres of sensitive riverine, cold-water fish habitat, and wetlands, including protected habitat of two state-listed rare species.

The settlement funds were deposited into the Massachusetts NRD Trust to be used for environmental restoration projects that restore, replace, or acquire the equivalent of natural resources that were harmed.

The Natural Resource Damages Program uses settlement money to help repair and restore damaged natural resources.