Date: Sun 10-Nov-1996

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDYG

Quick Words:

EPA-environment-Bee

Full Text:

GENNEWS

EPA Concludes No Further Remedial Action Needed At Bee Site

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has recategorized a hazardous

waste problem at The Bee Publishing Company at 5 Church Hill Road, deciding

that contamination there requires no further remedial action.

In an October 23 letter to The Bee, Daria Till, the EPA's pollution site

assessment manager for Connecticut, writes the EPA has completed its site

assessment of the pollution and has determined that a "No Further Remedial

Action Planned" (NFRAP) designation is appropriate for the site.

"Sites assigned NFRAP decisions are now being removed from EPA's Comprehensive

Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Information System

(CERCLIS) database, and archived as historical records to ensure EPA does not

needlessly repeat the investigations in the future," according to Ms Till.

"NFRAP decisions may be changed based upon new information or other

considerations which make a recommendation for NPL [National Priorities List]

listing appropriate at a later time," she adds.

In December 1995, the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) made

a final inspection of the Bee Publishing Company property, describing

conditions at the site. The chemical pollution problem had to do with

industrial waste storage, including inks, oils, and photogrpahic chemicals.

In Newtown, EPA has listed ten hazardous waste sites, placing them in various

categories based on the severity of the problems.

EPA stores information on hazardous waste sites nationwide in its CERCLIS

database. At one point, the database held information on approximately 40,000

potentially hazardous waste sites, but in 1995 EPA decided to reduce the

number of sites which are of real concern to the federal government. Today,

CIRCLIS contains information on approximately 16,000 sites nationally,

according to EPA.