The Cost Of Contamination: Fairfield's Fill Pile, FEMA And More

FAIRFIELD, CT — It’s been nearly two years since contaminated material tied to allegations of corruption at the Fairfield fill pile was discovered at sites across town.

Contamination cleanup is expected to take years and cost millions of dollars, according to Chief Administrative Officer Tom Bremer, who on Thursday gave the Board of Finance an update on the undertaking.

“We just have to go through this painful experience,” he said.

The town's most recent fill pile problems began in 2013, when Fairfield hired Julian Development to operate the site and reduce it by 40,000 cubic yards. Instead, the pile tripled in size over three years, and days before the agreement with Julian was set to end, contaminants were discovered on the property.

Police opened an investigation into activity at the pile in 2017, and seven people — most of whom are former town employees — have been charged. The defendants are accused of conspiring to run an illegal dump for contaminated material, allowing fraudulent billing, illegally disposing toxic polychlorinated biphenyls, and more.

Testing and remediation of the pile, as well as Fairfield’s Penfield Pavilion and seven other town sites, are subject to consent orders from the state’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

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To date, the town has spent $2.1 million on the fill pile crisis, according to Vice Chair Christopher DeWitt, but the true cost of cleaning up the pile alone remains unknown.

“We don’t know if it’s $80 million, $100 million,” DeWitt said. “I feel like it’s going to be in the tens of millions.”

The town has taken legal action against Julian, among other parties, and is seeking damages to pay for remediation.

The pile

Fairfield officials will be in a position in the coming weeks to begin negotiations with state and federal authorities over how best to address the PCBs in the pile. The town intends to argue that water remediation is unnecessary, but expects it will need to put a dirt cap of 2-4 feet on the 6-acre pile.

“This is going to be a negotiation, this is going to take some time,” Bremer said.

Once capped, the pile will need to be monitored multiple times a year at a cost of at least $100,000 annually for the foreseeable future.

“The cost gets very extreme,” he said.

Penfield Pavilion

The site that elicited the most concern from board members Thursday was Penfield Pavilion.

There are up to 6 feet of fill under the pavilion. The project was intended to be funded by a Federal Emergency Management Agency grant, until the money was denied when the town several years ago changed its plans for the project without getting FEMA approval.

“It is just shocking that this has now happened,” member Jim Walsh said. “We’ve been waiting for $4.3 million, which I think the majority of us on this board thought was almost like money in the bank.”

Some of the cost has already been covered by the town, but to fully fund it, Fairfield will require another $3.1 million in bonds, according to Bremer.

“This is an absolute travesty,” DeWitt said. “This is just horrific.”

The pavilion is safe to the public, according to First Selectwoman Brenda Kupchick. The extent of the contamination is still being determined.

“I’m very concerned at how much fill is underneath the building,” Bremer said.

The town will negotiate with state and federal authorities to address the issue.

“I’d assume this is not going to be a cheap fix,” Kupchick said.

Seven sites

Testing and remediation is ongoing at seven other Fairfield sites that contain fill-related PCBs and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Cleanup is projected to be complete at all the locations by the end of summer, Bremer said.

The sites are: Lake Mohegan, Southport Beach, Sunset Avenue, McKinley Elementary School, Osborn Hill Elementary School, Mill Hill Elementary School, Jennings Beach and the tennis facility on Old Dam Road.

Another 30-40 sites in town have small amounts of fill and will also be addressed.

Gould Manor Park

Gould Manor Park made headlines in 2019 after contaminated fill was discovered along its sidewalk, but the reason it remains closed today is historic arsenic contamination from pressure-treated wood. The park is not subject to state or federal consent orders and is expected to be remediated by winter.

Wastewater treatment plant

A hardening project for the town’s wastewater treatment plant turned up PCBs last year, requiring an additional $1.6 million bond, Bremer said. The plant is built on a former Project Nike missile control site, which is likely the source of the PCBs. Work on the project is expected to conclude before September.