Fairfield Suing Contractor Over PCBs In Fill Pile Berm

FAIRFIELD, CT — The town of Fairfield is suing a former contractor after the company advised Fairfield to build a berm at the town fill pile using contaminated material without state permission.

The legal complaint, dated May 28, accuses Osprey Environmental Engineering LLC and its president, Robert J. Grabarek, of 13 counts, including negligence, breach of contract and ultra-hazardous activities. Fairfield is seeking thousands in damages and has requested a jury trial.

“(The Department of Energy and Environmental Protection) never signed off on any of the stuff that they advised the town to do,” First Selectwoman Brenda Kupchick said.

Fairfield hired Osprey in 2016 to manage the closure plan for a solid waste disposal area under the pile — left over from when the site was used as a landfill — and supervise construction of a berm around the pile, according to the complaint. Osprey told the town that the solid waste area could be closed by moving soil from the area — known to contain PCBs and other hazardous material — and burying it in the berm without state approval, the complaint said.

In April 2018, Osprey directed the town to start construction of the berm, despite not having approval from the state, according to the complaint. In addition to PCBs, the soil the company told Fairfield to use in the berm contained lead, arsenic and mercury at concentrations above cleanup standards, the complaint said. Town workers finished the berm in June 2018.

Osprey did not respond to a call Tuesday seeking comment.

More than a year after the berm was completed, the state issued Fairfield a notice of violation, citing PCB contamination up to 9.6 parts per million in soil at the pile. The notice said the contamination had resulted in unauthorized pollution of state water, according to the complaint.

In early 2020, the town received a second state violation notice, this time saying that a 2019 state inspection at the pile revealed the town disrupted a solid waste disposal area without written approval. Fairfield also got a notice of violation about PCBs at the pile from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The town has since hired contractors to execute a compliant plan to close the area.

The state in May approved a testing and remediation plan from new Fairfield contractor Weston & Sampson Inc., which was set to start testing the site this week, according to Kupchick. Town officials recently transferred $400,000 to cover the costs of fill pile testing. The money is part of the $1.8 million allocated by the Board of Finance for pile-related expenses.

“I’m looking forward to the beginning of this process to start the work of cleaning up this contamination,” Kupchick said.

Approval from the state is pending for remediation of seven additional sites that are categorized as solid waste facilities after they received material from the fill pile. The sites include: the Jennings Elementary School playground, McKinley Elementary School, Osborn Hill Elementary School, Mill Hill Elementary School, Sunset Avenue, Old Dam Road and Southport Beach.

The fill pile is connected to charges brought last summer against two town employees and the owner of contractor Julian Companies, all of whom are accused of participating in a conspiracy to illegally operate a dump for contaminated material at the pile and to allow fraudulent billing. A former town employee was charged several months after the initial arrests with stealing a file related to the fill pile case.

Around the same time the first three defendants were charged, asbestos at a local park was reported to police in connection with the use of town fill. Since August, more than 80 areas in Fairfield have been tested for contamination, with the vast majority deemed safe but others undergoing necessary remediation.