Fairfield Fill Pile Problems Could Trigger Federal Involvement

FAIRFIELD, CT — Contamination connected to Fairfield's fill pile could lead a federal agency to become involved in the town's response to the issue, the first selectwoman said Friday. The possibility of federal involvement was one of many takeaways for town leadership after a meeting with state officials to discuss a notice of violation Fairfield received about a month ago from the Connecticut Department of Energy & Environmental Protection.

"Some of the things I learned in that meeting are very upsetting to me," First Selectwoman Brenda Kupchick said.

The notice that prompted the meeting cited PCB contamination in soil and sediment at the public works yard, which is the location of the fill pile at the center of a controversy involving felony charges against two ex-town employees and the discovery of contaminants at public properties across Fairfield.

The Department of Energy & Environmental Protection considers the fill pile and sites that contain fill from the pile to be unregulated solid waste facilities, Kupchick said. This means the town is subject to additional state and federal regulations if PCBs are found at any of the places that received the fill, including parks and schools. However, town leadership believes PCB exposure risk is limited to the fill pile, according to Kupchick, who said she has approved baseline exposure testing for town employees.

State officials also said the presence of contaminated sediment in the area of the pile could trigger involvement from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, according to Kupchick.

The town has been warned to expect another notice of violation from the state Department of Energy & Environmental Protection, she said, because Fairfield disrupted solid waste to construct the containment berm at the pile. Fairfield did not get a permit to build the berm and still does not have one.

"I assured them that going forward we'll have a complete and unhindered cooperation from the town," said Kupchick, a Republican who took office last month after defeating incumbent Mike Tetreau in the Nov. 5 election.

Fairfield leadership requested Wednesday's meeting with the state environmental department, according to Kupchick, who said the officials she met with expressed concern about having received little information from the town prior to the meeting.

The state has extended the 30-day deadline for the first notice of violation, which was received by the town Nov. 6. The extension dictates Fairfield submit a remediation plan by Jan. 17, but the town may be granted another extension after that, Kupchick said. If the issue remains unresolved, the Department of Energy & Environmental Protection can refuse to grant permits and licenses to the town.

The state environmental department has visited the pile repeatedly in recent months and conducted tests at the site. Once the testing is complete, Kupchick hopes to hold a town forum and begin putting together the remediation plan. Fairfield is seeking a contractor to work on the plan.

With state test results pending, the cost for remediation at the pile is uncertain, Kupchick said.

"I think it's going to be really expensive, yeah, how much I don't know," she said, adding she intends to reach out to U.S. Rep. Jim Himes and U.S. Senators Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy to gauge what kind of federal assistance might be available for the town.

Fairfield's Board of Finance learned Tuesday that the town is expected to exceed the $1.8 million allocated for testing and remediation of contaminated sites across Fairfield. Conservation Director Brian Carey also told the board he couldn't predict the costs for work associated with the notice of violation.

The fill pile problems date back to 2013, when Fairfield hired Julian Development to operate the pile and reduce the amount of unused project material by 40,000 cubic yards. Over the next three years, the pile more than doubled in size, and days before the agreement was set to end, contaminants were discovered on the property.

After conservation officials said the transportation and dumping of contaminated material could have violated state or federal law, police opened an investigation in 2017.

Court proceedings are ongoing for former public works superintendent Scott Bartlett, former public works director Joe Michelangelo and Julian Companies Owner Jason Julian, all of whom were arrested in August and are charged with financial and environmental crimes in connection with the pile. Each of the three men have pleaded not guilty and requested a jury trial.

Around the same time that Bartlett, Michelangelo and Julian were charged, asbestos at a local park was reported to police, and not long after that, the town released a list of priority contamination testing sites that received fill from the pile when it was operated by Julian.

Since then, more than 70 areas in Fairfield have been tested for contamination. The vast majority have been deemed safe, but some sites were found to contain asbestos, arsenic and other contaminants.