Fairfield Fill Pile Gets Second State Violation Notice

FAIRFIELD, CT — Fairfield has received a second violation notice from state environmental officials regarding the fill pile at the center of the town's recent public corruption scandal.

The notice, issued Jan. 6, said an inspection of the fill pile Nov. 20 revealed the town disrupted the area without getting proper approval to do so, according to documents from the Connecticut Department of Energy & Environmental Protection.

The violation is related to an application to close the fill pile submitted during the administration of former first selectman Mike Tetreau, who left office in November, according to Town Attorney Jim Baldwin. The pile has been sealed and closed for years, Baldwin said, but because the town about two years ago created a berm for the pile without a permit, Fairfield must now resubmit its application seeking the official closure of the property, according to Baldwin.

The town has 30 days to correct the violation or provide a compliance schedule to the state.

The second notice of violation came roughly a week before Fairfield submitted an update to the state addressing the first violation notice it received about the fill pile. The update was filed Friday, informing state officials of the town's progress in hiring a licensed environmental professional to address PCB contamination in the soil and sediment at the public works yard, which is the location of the pile, Baldwin said. Fairfield plans to hire an environmental contractor before the month's end, according to Baldwin, but the town's remediation plan for the site is not yet complete.

"It's still early in the remediation planning stage," Baldwin said, noting the town has not yet received the results of state tests conducted last fall at the pile but that Fairfield expects to get them by the end of the month.

The town is looking at four finalists for the licensed environmental professional agreement, said Baldwin, who noted the contract will be discussed by the Board of Selectmen. Tighe & Bond, which conducted much of the remediation work at public sites across town where contaminants were found in connection with the pile, is not being considered for the job, he said.

Fairfield's contamination crisis dominated headlines and public meetings for months in town after two ex-Fairfield employees and a former contractor were charged in August with financial and environmental crimes in connection with the management of the fill pile. Around the same time the charges were announced, contaminants were reported to police after being uncovered at a local park. Since then, more than 70 areas in Fairfield have been tested for contamination. The vast majority have been deemed safe, but some sites were found to contain asbestos, arsenic and other contaminants.

Remediation for the fill pile and additional sites is projected to cost millions.