Dartmouth's Conservation Commission can celebrate a win after fighting big business for at least four years to keep toxins out of wetlands and drinking water.

According to town Attorney Anthony Savastano, Boston Environmental Corp. worked with property owner Mary Robinson to cap the landfill on Old Fall River Road with more than 1.1 million cubic yards of contaminated soil.

Robinson said she couldn't afford to cap the Cecil Smith Landfill with clean soil, and so applied to the conservation commission to haul in contaminated soil — which included arsenic, lead, and the carcinogen chromium-6 — to cover and cap her 23-acre landfill, said Savastano. The landfill however, is surrounded by wetlands.

According to Savastano, the Brockton-based Boston Environmental Corp. claimed that it had to pile the soil 65-feet high in order to turn a profit; a reasonable profit is sanctioned by the state Department of Environmental Protection. Savastano said the company planned to haul in soil that parent company J. Derenzo Companies needed removed.

"It's a regulatory scheme to help urban development in the greater Boston area," said Savastano, "to the detriment of outlying communities."

When town conservation commission denied the company's application, it appealed to both the state DEP on the basis that the town's wetland protections were not more stringent than the state's, and therefore the town had no authority to deny the application; and to the state Superior Court to fight the local bylaw.

While DEP sided with the company, the Superior Court did not, upholding the conservation commission decision and halting progress at the landfill, said Savastano.

Savastano said that the concentration of chromium-6 allowed in capping the landfill is significantly higher than the amount determined to be cancer causing. It would've taken the company more than three years to haul in the soil, giving the contaminates more than three years to leech into the ground water before they were capped by an "impermeable membrane," said Savastano.

"The people who have properties near the landfill all have private wells," said Savastano, adding that the contaminants would pollute both Dartmouth and Westport drinking water, as well as have an impact on the surrounding wetlands.

With Savastano's help, the town Board of Health also issued a regulation prohibiting the transportation and disposal of contaminated materials; the move has caused Boston Environmental to sue the department, but the lawsuit is still pending.

"I take this stuff a little more personally," said Savastano, a Dartmouth resident.

Savastano said that the win has shut down the project. "Winning an appeal is extremely unlikely," he said for the Brockton company. "It should be illegal dumping, but it's not. We're showing how DEP is bias on this," he added.

"We're not directly involved. It is something we would like to review," said MassDEP Public Affairs Director Ed Coletta, and then declined further comment.

Select Board member John Haran was pleased, saying once again that "other towns and cities are going to save thousands — thousands — thanks to Anthony Savastano." Savastano explained he has a room of files dedicated to the case. If the Health Board regulation is upheld, that would create a roadmap for other municipalities to stop such projects in their towns.