Canaan House Fuel Spill Cleanup Progresses

By Andrew Gorosko

Workers this week continued cleaning up the environmental mess caused by the recent spill of 4,550 gallons of #2 heating fuel outside Canaan House at Fairfield Hills.

Workers installed multiple vertical white plastic pipes into a cavernous pit, which they have dug at the northwest corner of Canaan House. The gaping pit is in the area where a leaking external heating system spewed fuel out of a broken fuel line for an extended period on the snowy weekend of December 6–7, before being discovered on December 8. The plastic pipes will vent the spilled fuel from the ground.

First Selectman Herbert Rosenthal said December 29 that the town is awaiting the state’s review and approval of the town’s overall plan for future environmental cleanup work at Fairfield Hills. The state’s failure to complete that review has resulted in the town invoking a purchase contract clause that will delay the town’s purchase of Fairfield Hills from the state for 60 days.

The town plans to pay the state $3.9 million for 189 acres, including 17 major buildings, at the former state psychiatric institution which closed in December 1995. The property transfer initially had been scheduled to occur by December 31.

Mr Rosenthal has said it is unclear how the recent fuel spill at Canaan House, which is the state’s cleanup responsibility, would affect the town’s other future Fairfield Hills environmental cleanup plans, as described in the plan that is awaiting state review.

That plan describes steps the town would take to resolve other known environmental problems at Fairfield Hills, such as the presence of asbestos and lead paint in buildings, as well as pesticide residue on the grounds.

The Canaan House oil spill cleanup will be expensive job for the state, the first selectman said. Although the overall cost for the work is not yet known, the price might range from $500,000 to $1 million, he said. The state Department of Public Works operates Fairfield Hills.

Dom Posca, who supervises buildings and grounds for the public school system, said December 30 that although the heavy petroleum odor caused by the fuel spill has subsided somewhat, the malodorous smell remains and some school office staffers continue working in relocated quarters within the 208,888-square-foot Canaan House.

The state is working diligently to correct the problems posed by the fuel spill, Mr Posca noted. When conditions improve, school office staffers will return to their normal areas within the building, he said.

Besides school system offices, Canaan House contains the town’s departments for land use regulation, building, public health, and the fire marshal’s office. It also holds Tunxis Management Company, the firm that operates the building which was constructed in 1940.

The state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has categorized the fuel spill as a “significant” spill, which warranted a high level of concern and immediate cleanup action.

The rapid cleanup work that was done after the spill was discovered helped protect a trout stream tributary of Deep Brook. Some of the spilled heating fuel had traveled about 500 yards through a storm sewer lying beneath Fairfield Hills to that trout stream.

The pristine brook is part of a riverine area that contains the last remaining “Class 1” trout stream in Fairfield County, and is one of only eight such areas in the state, where trout breed naturally.

DEP will not be able to fully evaluate the impact of the oil spill until next summer, when it records the trout population in that area.

Some of the spilled fuel made its way into the soil beneath the concrete basement floor of Canaan House. Such fuel may be recovered by installing vents or by drilling through the basement floor. A basement room in the building was found flooded with heating fuel following the spill.

Environmental cleanup work at the spill site may continue for several more weeks. After the excavation near Canaan House ends, the site will be monitored for any subterranean changes that may occur.

Mr Rosenthal has said the town’s purchase of Fairfield Hills from the state will not occur until the town is assured that the state has appropriate protections in place to provide for the fuel spill cleanup. The town has its environmental consultant monitoring the work.

If nothing were done to remedy the problem, the spilled fuel would eventually find its way into the subsurface water table and into area surface waters.