Date: Fri 17-Jan-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: KAAREN

Quick Words:

Batchelder-pollution-EPA-DEP

Full Text:

Feds May Help With Batchelder Clean-Up

B Y K AAREN V ALENTA

Federal funds may be available for the cleanup of the former Charles

Batchelder Company property on Swamp Road if the town assures the

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that the property will be used again as

an industrial site.

Donna McCarthy, the Newtown Health District's director of environmental

services, told the health board last week that the State Department of

Environmental Protection (DEP) has asked for a letter from the town indicating

that the 30-acre property still is eligible for industrial use.

"The EPA has a limited amount of dollars to use (for the removal of hazardous

waste) and wants an assurance that if there is a cleanup, the town will allow

an industrial use of the property, not prevent it," she explained. "We're

certainly in favor of that, although we prefer light industrial to heavy

industrial use."

There has been some interest in the property, according to Community

Development Director Liz Stocker.

"We're currently in a discussion for re-use of the property, a light

industrial use - manufacturing basically," Ms Stocker said. "It's really in

the preliminary stages because of the environmental concerns and how it will

be cleaned up. We don't know at this time how much it will cost."

Ms Stocker said she has had discussions with firms that are interested in

doing the cleanup and also talked with officials from other firms that could

be interested in the property once it is cleaned up.

"The property abuts a rail siding which is a definite advantage," she said.

Ms McCarthy said she and representatives of the EPA and the DEP visited the

Bachelder site again on December 18 to collect additional samples to test the

validity of earlier test results.

"The site certainly is contaminated but the EPA doesn't feel there is a

significant threat to offsite properties," said Mark Cooper, health district

director.

Ms McCarthy agreed. "The DEP doesn't believe that the contamination is

migrating," she said. "Water quality sampling continues to be done in the

area."

Last month the health district received the results of the testing which was

conducted at Batchelder's in the fall, but the inch-thick pile of reports had

not been analyzed or interpreted. Thomas O'Connor, DEP environmental analyst,

said the EPA Region 1 office in Boston, which is in charge of analyzing the

data, decided additional samples should be taken.

The site of the former aluminum smelting factory has been on federal/state

hazardous waste lists for several years. EPA investigators visited the 30-acre

site in late August, at the request of the DEP, to oversee the removal of

samples for laboratory testing. The testing came as a response to requests by

the district health officials, State Rep Julia Wasserman and First Selectman

Bob Cascella.

The State Health Department also is reviewing the Batchelder site under a

contract with the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry

(ATSDR).

The Batchelder company, which employed 125 people at its peak in the late

1970s and early 1980s, closed its doors in February 1987. Once the only

smelting plant of its kind in New England, Batchelder operated for more than

30 years in Newtown. But after an April 1984 explosion killed one worker at

the plant, the company was cited for violations which included excess noise,

airborne concentrations of hydrogen chloride, inorganic arsenic, lead and

dust.