Fuel Spill Probe Continues;

Cleanup Costs Yet Unclear

By Andrew Gorosko

Workers this week continued exploring the extent of a heating fuel spill that occurred late last month at the town’s Reed Intermediate School at Fairfield Hills, drilling a series of test wells to gauge how far an estimated 4,000 gallons of fuel has spread in the area lying between the school and Deep Brook, a pristine stream where trout spawn.

Exploratory drilling rigs were in use next to Deep Brook and on Old Farm Road, near the state Department of Transportation’s road sand-and-salt storage yard.

After learning how far the #2 heating fuel has spread, a cleanup plan would be created and costs for the work could be estimated.

It was unclear this week how much it might cost the town to cleanup the fuel spill, but the expenses apparently could run into hundreds of thousands of dollars.

A December 2003 spill of 4,550 gallons of #2 heating fuel at the then state-owned Canaan House at Fairfield Hills reportedly cost the state approximately $1.5 million to clean up.  It took several months to clean up that spill. The town has since purchased Canaan House and many other buildings on 189 acres at Fairfield Hills from the state for $3.9 million.

Mark Liano, a spills inspector for the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), said this week that workers have continued collecting the fuel that spilled after a mechanical failure of the school’s heating system. As of last week, roughly one-sixth of the spilled fuel had been collected. The overall gallonage of spilled fuel collected so far was unavailable.

Fuel that had escaped from inside the school traveled underground until it reached a sanitary sewer that is packed with crushed stone. The seeping fuel then entered that crushed-stone packing and followed the sewer line until the sewer passed beneath Deep Brook, where the fuel rose to the brook’s surface and was noticed. Approximately 50 gallons of fuel entered the brook before the spill was discovered.

As conditions grow colder, the underground fuel flows less readily, making its collection in a containment pit near the brook more difficult. Mechanical equipment to collect the spilled fuel is in use near the brook.

The fuel spill’s effect on the trout population in the brook will not be known until midyear, when the DEP conducts its annual trout census there.

Mr Liano said that the collection of the spilled fuel will probably remain in an “emergency phase” until next week. The spill was discovered on December 29.

First Selectman Herb Rosenthal said it is unclear how much it might cost the town to clean up the fuel spill. “I don’t have any numbers,” he said. The first selectman said costs might extend into “the hundreds of thousands of dollars.”

No specific plans for spill cleanup has yet been established, he said. “We’re exploring all the options for cleanup,” he said.

The town’s attorneys’ are reviewing the various contracts that the town entered for Reed School’s construction, he said.

If some firm or firms are found to be responsible for the fuel spill, the town would pursue legal action against them to recoup fuel spill cleanup costs, Mr Rosenthal said.

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.