Sample collection on a former industrial disposal site in downtown Wilton is expected to be done within the next six weeks, according to national Environmental Protection Agency officials.
Ted Bazenas, a section chief for the Environmental Protection Agency’s emergency planning and response branch, said in an interview Tuesday that a federal court had granted the EPA access to the land for the next three months – with the possibility for extensions if needed – to test whether drums of sodium cyanide believed to be buried on the property have leaked into the surrounding soil.
The site was investigated within the past few years by the state EPA, which requested the federal agency get involved to help access the property and potentially assist with remediation if the soil or air around the site is found to be contaminated by the chemicals known to be buried on the site by the Abbott Machine Company decades ago.
The national EPA does between 20 and 40 site investigations per year, based on referrals from the state, but not all result in cleaning up the site, Bazenas said – only about a third meet the threshold needed to remediate.
Karen Way, the on-scene coordinator, is currently securing equipment to do the site investigation, which will include soil and air testing, and possibly testing of the bank or surface water of Stoney Brook.
Samples will be sent for analysis at a regional lab in Chelmsford, Massachusetts for testing, and to determine what, if any, levels of contamination exist, a process that will take approximately two to four weeks, Bazenas said.
The analysis will focus on cyanide as a contaminant of concern, but also test for a slate of other volatile organic compounds and contaminants.
“Based on what I know of the site, it looks certain that there were drums [of sodium cyanide] entombed at the site, but in order to qualify for removal, what we’re really looking at is there potential exposure,” Bazenas said. “If it is being held there, solidly, it’ll be difficult to say that the criteria is met to go in and clean it up.”
If the findings represent a threat to public health, remediation efforts will begin. Bazenas said that often in cases where the contamination can be traced back to a specific source, the EPA will attempt to work with that entity or person to clean up the site, and they can be responsible for the costs. In this case, the land once belonged to the Abbott Machine Company, and was used as a disposal site. But the land has since been placed into a trust, which was eventually dissolved, without transferring the assets, and the town has never taken possession of the land. Bazenas said the federal arm of the EPA has a fund for the clean-up of Superfund sites, and the land’s murky ownership will not be an impediment to remediating it, if needed.
The drums are believed to be buried in a concrete structure. If there is no leakage, the federal arm of the EPA will turn the case back over to the New Hampshire Environmental Protection Agency for next steps.