EPA To Fine Newtown

For Fuel Spill

By Andrew Gorosko

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) intends to levy a fine of up to $32,500 against the town for violations of the federal Clean Water Act stemming from a December 2004 fuel spill, during which approximately 4,000 gallons of #2 heating fuel leaked out of the heating system at Reed Intermediate School at Fairfield Hills.

A major fuel spill cleanup is now underway within Reed School, where wells have been drilled through the concrete floor to recover what may be 2,000 gallons of #2 heating fuel lying beneath that building. Workers have cut an 180-foot-long trench into the concrete floor of a corridor adjacent to classrooms in “Lower Area 3” at the school. Piping in the trench is being used to extract the heating fuel.

The town has hired contractors to clean up the fuel spill. More than a third of the spilled fuel has been recovered so far, in a project that is expected to continue for several months. Town officials have designated $1.2 million in town spending for the cleanup work.

According to the EPA, approximately 100 gallons of the spilled 4,000 gallons of heating fuel flowed along a trench containing a sanitary sewer line and then entered Deep Brook and the downstream Pootatuck River.

Deep Brook contains Class A water, and is one of only eight streams in the state where wild trout reproduce naturally. Class A water is considered drinking-water quality.

Filtration equipment is now in use near Deep Brook to prevent any additional heating oil from entering the stream. The effect of the fuel spill on the stream’s aquatic life will not be known until midyear, when the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) conducts its annual trout census there. The stream is a Wild Trout Management Area.

“If you’re a municipality in New England, you need to make sure that all of your facilities — schools, public works garages, and water treatment plants — are maintained and meeting environmental standards. Municipalities, just like [businesses], will be held accountable by EPA when oil spills or similar problems occur,” Robert W. Varney, EPA’s administrator for New England, said in a statement.

In June 2004, EPA filed a complaint against Belmont, Mass., concerning a spill of 2,500 gallons of #4 heating fuel from an elementary school. Some of that fuel entered a pond. Belmont was eventually fined $8,000.

In January 2004, EPA filed a complaint against West Springfield, Mass., after 4,000 gallons of heating fuel escaped from a high school there and entered a brook. West Springfield was fined $15,000, of which $11,000 was in the form of cash and $4,000 was in the form of an environmental education program.

EPA attorney Jeff Kopf said March 30 he expects that the fine that the EPA eventually levies against Newtown will be somewhat less than the maximum $32,500, which is allowed by the Clean Water Act. The town has 30 days to respond to EPA’s formal complaint about the environmental violation, he said.

The full extent of environmental damage stemming from the spill is yet unknown, he said.

Mr Kopf said he expects it will be several months before the amount of the fine against the town is set. The EPA has cooperated with the DEP in pursuing a fine for the town’s violation, he said.

Mr Kopf said the town could conduct some type of environmental educational program as a way to reduce the amount of the fine, similar to the educational program conducted by West Springfield.

In response to EPA’s plan to fine the town, First Selectman Herbert Rosenthal said March 30, “We [town] took immediate action to mitigate the spill.”

The spill was discovered on December 30, while school was on vacation. A heavy petroleum odor and oil sheen on Deep Brook and the Pootatuck River triggered a fire department response, after which the fuel spill at the school was discovered.

“The town is not a scofflaw,” Mr Rosenthal stressed. The town believes that it will find parties that are responsible for the fuel spill’s occurrence, he said.

The town’s attorneys have been reviewing the various contracts that the town entered for Reed School’s construction to learn if some cleanup costs can be recovered for the town through legal action.

Reed School, which houses fifth- and sixth-grade students, opened for classes in January 2003. Haynes Construction Company of Seymour was the general contractor for school construction.

“It’s not as if we’re ignoring this [fuel spill],” Mr Rosenthal said of the town’s efforts to clean up the environmental contamination.

The town’s attorneys will discuss the pending fine with EPA officials, Mr Rosenthal said. If the town is fined, it will then pursue recovering that fine through court action against those responsible for the fuel spill, the first selectman said.

Of the EPA sanction, Mr Rosenthal said, “I’m very disappointed…We provided them with a lot of information” about steps the town was taking to rectify the fuel spill contamination, he said.

“I’m very unhappy with the way they handled it,” he added.

Mr Rosenthal said he will research whether the EPA levied a fine against the state after approximately 4,500 gallons of #2 heating fuel spilled from the then state-owned Canaan House at Fairfield Hills in December 2003. Some of that spilled fuel entered Deep Brook. If the state was not fined for that fuel spill, the town would challenge the EPA’s action against the town, he said. That spill reportedly cost the state $1.5 million to clean up.

Mr Kopf said March 31 that the EPA did not fine the state for the December 2003 fuel spill at Canaan House.