Fairfield Fill Pile Gets Third Violation Notice From State

FAIRFIELD, CT — Fairfield has received a third violation notice from the state regarding the town fill pile, which is at the center of a criminal investigation involving several former Fairfield officials.

The new violation pertains to dredging material removed from Owen Fish Pond and brought to the pile in 2018, First Selectwoman Brenda Kupchick said Friday in an email to residents. The pile was not permitted to receive the material, which contained slight PAH exceedances, a common occurrence in bodies of water near roadways, Kupchick said in an interview Friday.

Previous notices of violation issued in late 2019 and early 2020 from the state and federal governments were related to PCB contamination and lack of permitting at the pile. Before receiving the new violation Thursday, the town had already hired consultant Weston & Sampson to address the issues raised in the earlier notices from the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

"We're doing everything that would've been required anyway, based on the prior NOV," Kupchick said.

Weston & Sampson is putting together protocol for testing at the pile, which it will submit to the state and federal agencies for approval before sampling begins. The requirements for the new violation will be included in the town's existing plan to test, remediate and officially close the pile, which is no longer operational.

"We're working extraordinarily closely with DEEP and the EPA," Kupchick said.

The cost to remediate the pile is unknown, although town officials have already allocated nearly $2 million for contamination-related expenses, including testing and cleanup at public sites across town, some of which received contaminated fill from the pile.

Fairfield's contamination crisis dominated headlines and public meetings for months in the second half of 2019, after charges were brought against two ex-public works officials and a former Fairfield contractor. Since then, a third ex-town employee has been charged and more than 80 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 additional contaminants.