PROVIDENCE — A recent settlement with a Massachusetts contractor that worked on the 6/10 Connector project resolves a criminal case that goes back five years, with $10 million of the $11 million agreement to be used to improve the health of children living near the construction site.

Attorney General Peter Neronha said Barletta Heavy Division Inc. paid to resolve its violations of Rhode Island solid waste laws by illegally dumping more than 4,500 tons of contaminated fill during the construction of the Route 6/10 Interchange and then lying about it.

Barletta, a Canton, Mass.-based business, dumped contaminated fill from the Pawtucket/Central Falls Commuter Rail Station site on the border of Pawtucket and Central Falls and from a Barletta materials stockpile in the Jamaica Plain neighborhood of Boston. The site of the Commuter Rail Station has been used as a rail yard for nearly 150 years and the presence of soil contaminants, including arsenic and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, has been previously confirmed.

“Companies that treat our state as a dumping ground and place the health and welfare of Rhode Islanders at risk, as Barletta has here, must face real consequences for their unlawful conduct,” Neronha said. “When the federal case against Barletta was resolved some time ago, I strongly believed that Rhode Islanders deserved a better outcome, and so we proceeded with our state case. I am pleased that now, because of our demonstrated willingness to take this case to trial, Barletta has paid an unprecedented monetary amount of $11 million dollars to resolve our case.”

He said $10 million will go toward improving the dental and physical health of children living in city neighborhoods near the 6/10 Interchange.

“Too often, I’ve seen the illegal and immoral decisions of bad actors lead to bad outcomes for Rhode Island’s predominately Black and brown communities, with children being one of the most vulnerable groups within these communities, Neronha said. “For that reason, these funds will be immediately put into action to address immediate health care needs of Providence children.”

One in three kindergartners and almost half of all third-graders in the state experience tooth decay, according to the Rhode Island Department of Health. The situation is particularly troublesome in Providence.

In addition, Barletta will pay legal fees to the attorney general’s office ($750,000) and the Department of Environmental Management ($250,000). Under the terms of the settlement, Barletta admitted to all of the conduct alleged against it in the civil complaint.

On Jan. 18, 2023, Neronha charged Barletta and a former senior employee with illegally dumping contaminated fill at project sites in Providence during the construction of the Route 6/10 Interchange project.

Barletta was charged with two counts of illegal disposal of solid waste, one count of operating a solid waste management facility without a license, and one count of providing a false document to a public official. Dennis Ferreira of Holliston, Mass., a former senior employee of Barletta, was charged with two counts of illegal disposal of solid waste, one count of operating a solid waste management facility without a license, and one count of providing a false document to a public official.