Norwalk Superfund site presents case for keeping EPA intact

Hour (Norwalk, CT)

April 02--NORWALK -- Forty years ago, Elinco Corp. manufactured motors along Main Avenue and spilled toxins that made their way into a nearby aquifer used for Norwalk's drinking water.

The company used the industrial solvent Trichloroethylene, now an established carcinogenic, as part of the manufacturing process. Elevated levels of TCE in groundwater were first detected in the Kellogg-Deering Well Field in 1975, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The findings launched a series of investigations aimed at determining the source.

"I knew what kind of companies used the solvent that we were finding in the drinking water well, so I took a look and I found that a company that has to clean electric boards mostly uses solvents that evaporate and leave clean electric connections. TCE does the job," said Diane Lauricella, a Norwalk resident and environmental inspector at the time. "I did a site walk-through. I found that TCE was leaking from their tank."

The ongoing research resulted in a report that prompted the EPA to classify the site at 272 Main Ave. as a Superfund site. Established in 1980, the EPA Superfund program is responsible for cleaning up the nation's most contaminated lands and responding to oil spills and other environmental emergencies.

State and local officials now fear the EPA's role may change under President Donald Trump's plan to reduce the EPA's budget by 31 percent, from $8.1 billion budget to $5.1 billion, trim its workforce by 20 percent and gut clean air and water regulations.

Susan Sweitzer, senior project manager at the Norwalk Redevelopment Agency, won't venture a guess on how such cuts, if enacted in the forthcoming federal budget, might impact the city. She is confident speaking about the EPA's role at the former Elinco site. While still subject to monitoring, the property is now cleaned up and targeted for redevelopment.

"That's probably a very good case study for the function of EPA in assisting a property that was completely contaminated and is coming back to proposed uses," Sweitzer said. "You went from nothing to something, over a long period of time."

That scenario could also play out at Manresa Island, where NRG Energy began deactivating its power plant in June 2013. Power generation stopped the following year on the 125-acre property. Leftover wastes include halogenated chemicals, acids and bases. The property owner is working toward remediation goals and groundwater-monitoring work continues, according to the EPA.

Contamination, however, isn't limited to Superfund sites or large properties like Manresa Island.

Ground contamination is commonplace in South Norwalk due to its industrial past. Sweitzer said buried gas and oil tanks are likely "all over the place." To better understand the problem, the Redevelopment Agency secured in 2010 a $400,000 EPA grant to inventory properties throughout South Norwalk and beyond.

Last year, the Redevelopment Agency landed another $400,000 grant from the federal agency to, among other things, assess contamination at Ryan Park. The agency has received a $2 million grant through the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection to clean up the park in advance of its rebuilding as part of the Washington Village Transformation Plan.

"The state and the DECD have been pretty proactive in providing brownfields grants and loans to the private sector to help clean up these properties and it's been effective," said Kim Morque, president of Spinnaker Real Estate Partners, which has redeveloped numerous properties in South Norwalk. "Assessments really do help to get a handle around existing brownfields and the scope and the issues so that they can be put back into productive use."

Morque said it's too early to tell what the EPA budget cuts, if enacted, would mean for Norwalk and Connecticut.

"These things have a tendency to play out over a longer period of time, and policy changes, especially around environmental matters, don't turn on a dime," Morque said.

Reuse of the former Elinco site played out over several decades. A plan is now before the city's Zoning Commission to build a big-box store and other retail on the property. The cleanup is complete and residents' concerns now center around potential traffic.

The property, nevertheless, remains an EPA Superfund site subject to monitoring every five years. As such, Lauricella is concerned about the proposed cuts to the EPA budget.

"We want to have a public meeting to discuss what the status is of the site," Lauricella said. "We find we're hearing less and less, staff is cut, they get less money and we're afraid they won't have the staff in place to keep track of any of this."

The EPA cuts also would impact the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, which relies up federal grants. For the current award period, the EPA provided the DEEP $33.7 million -- nearly 62 percent of its federal grant funding.

"We use EPA funds to support work that lies at the very heart of our efforts as an environmental agency," DEEP Commissioner Robert J. Klee recently wrote in a message to staff. "This money covers the cost of positions and programs that protect our air, water, and lands. These funds cover everything from monitoring of air and water quality to permitting, compliance assistance, and enforcement across the whole scope of our Environmental Quality Branch."

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