Date: Fri 16-May-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: KAAREN

Quick Words:

Batchelder-EPA-pollution

Full Text:

EPA OKs Batchelder Clean-Up

Representatives of the federal Evironmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the

state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) have scheduled a news

conference in Newtown on Tuesday to discuss a proposed $503,000 initial

cleanup and fencing of the former Charles Batchelder Company plant in

Botsford.

Mark A.R. Cooper, director of the Newtown Health District, said a news

conference will be held in front of Edmond Town Hall at 1 pm on Tuesday to

make an announcement.

"We just got word that the EPA has been given the green light to proceed," Mr

Cooper said.

A report written by Daniel J. Burke, on-scene coordinator for the EPA's

Emergency Planning and Response Branch, and sent to Linda M. Murphy, director

of the EPA's Office of Site Remediation and Restoration, on April 9

recommended that a limited cleanup be undertaken as an emergency measure

because youth with dirt bikes and others frequently trespass on the property.

The cleanup recommendations follow a report, prepared by the Connecticut

Department of Public Health (CTDPH) in March, which warned that there is a

significant health and safety risk for anyone who trespasses on the 31-acre

property on Swamp Road, where an aluminum smelting plant operated from 1947 to

1987.