Norwich EPA environmental assessment grant still coming

Jan. 30--NORWICH -- A $384,000 brownfields cleanup grant the city was awarded from the federal Environmental Protection Agency grant apparently has cleared a temporary freeze on EPA grants and contracts imposed by President Donald Trump last week, an EPA official said.

Norwich was awarded the citywide brownfields assessment grant last June to evaluate sites contaminated with hazardous substances, including petroleum. On Jan. 4, the city received 10 responses to a request for proposals from environmental engineering firms.

City officials were evaluating the responses and possible sites throughout the city when Trump announced the freeze on EPA grants Jan. 23. City Manager John Salomone said the city does not have the grant money in hand, prompting concerns last week over whether the grant would still be awarded.

"As of (Friday), EPA has completed review our grant programs, and all grants are proceeding normally and nothing has been delayed," an EPA spokesman said in an email to The Day late Friday. "This includes environmental program grants and state revolving loan fund grants to the states and tribes. The review of contracts is nearly complete, with very few contracts still under review."

Gary Evans, Norwich director of community development, who has been overseeing the brownfields grant, said city officials hope to select the primary environmental consultant this week for the project.

The consultant will evaluate and prioritize potential sites to be studied, manage the environmental testing, get public input on the city's priorities and also create an educational partnership with local high schools or Three Rivers Community College for potential student involvement in the project. Evans said the idea is to provide a practical experience to students interested in environmental studies.

Sites have not been selected for the assessment, but city-owned former industrial land on Chestnut Street could be a priority, Evans said, and privately owned land could be included in the study with cooperation from property owners.

Depending on the size of the properties selected and extent of potential contamination, Evans estimated the grant could cover initial assessments on about five sites, a second-phase study on three or four parcels and third-phase assessments of three or four sites. Environmental cleanup plans could be generated for three or four sites as well.

"We'd like to move as swiftly as possible to start assessing properties," Evans said.

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