Remediation and monitoring could end in 2024

By Joe Kelly

The arrival of spring and a successful completion of legal negotiations with nearby property owners have
cleared the way for what may be the final phase of the cleanup of last November’s gas spill.
As the ground thawed in April and May, and agreements were reached to provide access to all the
properties involved, work crews and heavy equipment became a dominant presence on Route 44 near
Beacon Lane where six months ago, on Nov. 5, a tanker truck rolled over and spilled its load of 8,200
gallons of gasoline.

In the area near the crash site, tons of gas-laden soil have been removed and underground pipes
connecting storm drains replaced. According to Jeff King of Verdantas, the company retained by the
state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) to oversee the cleanup, digging went
down to 18 feet below grade—a telling indicator of the extensive level of contamination that resulted
from the spill.

As Norfolk Now goes to press, the cleanup is likely to have shifted to Maple Avenue. Because the spill
polluted a drainage channel that runs from near the crash site, along Pettibone Lane and under Maple
Avenue (and ultimately drains to the Blackberry River) more gas-contaminated soil needs to be removed
and drainage infrastructure updated in the channel and under the roadway. This project, which is
estimated to require another four to six weeks (into at least July) will be a prelude to the much larger
reconstruction of Maple Avenue between Route 44 and Laurel Way that includes renovation of the road
surface, replacement of storm drains and new concrete sidewalks. That project will continue into the
fall, as long as weather permits, and is almost certain to extend into next year, according to First
Selectman Matt Riiska.

King and Riiska provided these updates at a sparsely attended meeting on the cleanup held at the
Botelle School on May 23.

Sampling Results Show Little Gas

While this final phase of cleanup is extensive, it’s taking place under what appears to be a silver lining:
according to King, water samples drawn from the more than 50 wells placed along the path of the spill
have shown negligible to zero amounts of gas in the groundwater.
Should the results of the water sampling hold for a full year after the remediation work is completed
(i.e., from September 2023 to September 2024) King said it would mean that all gas spill-related
work—both remediation and monitoring—could be over by the last quarter of 2024, about two years
from the date of the accident.

This would be an unexpectedly rapid conclusion to a difficult chapter in Norfolk’s history caused by an
incident that endangered the lives of nearby residents and dozens of volunteer first responders,
required power to be shut off in a large portion of town, forced many to evacuate their homes, has
strained the local government and cost thousands if not millions of dollars to cleanup and—when it first
occurred—seemed as if it would require many more years of remediation work and monitoring.

The discovery of so little gas contamination in the water samples is already altering the course of the
cleanup. According to King, a planned bioremediation effort involving the spread of a microbial
substance that would essentially eat any gas-related hydrocarbons in the soil is now on hold and may be
canceled entirely. “We are not going to use it if there is no gas there,” he said.

Indoor Air Quality Still a Concern

The work on both Route 44 and Maple Avenue includes the presence of an outdoor air quality
monitoring team that is keeping tabs on both dust and the release of volatile organic compounds such
as benzene. According to Bob Brown, an industrial hygienist retained by Verdantas, the monitoring
team did not detect any condition outdoors that halted or delayed the remediation work.

Brown also reported that more air quality testing has been done inside homes near the crash site on
Route 44 and did not detect levels of toxic substances that exceed recommended guidelines.

However, air quality appears likely to remain an ongoing issue. One of the homeowners whose home
was tested, Clint Webb, provided a copy of the report for his home showing that levels of toxic
substances were at the upper limit of what is allowable and in basement of his home actually exceeded
those limits. Webb, who works as an environmental consultant, maintains that the guidelines were
developed for industrial situations and are not appropriate for residential environments that could
potentially be occupied around the clock. He plans to take his concerns to the state Department of
Health.

Legal Wrangling Continues

While the cleanup itself may have a silver lining, legal challenges continue to cast their shadow. A
representative of the law firm representing residents along Route 44 attended the May 23 briefing at
the Botelle School asking several questions but declining to respond to inquiries on the status of any
legal action. The State of Connecticut Attorney General has confirmed it is investigating the gas spill but declined to provide further details. According to the website of the DEEP, Connecticut environmental law imposes “strict liability” on the business that caused the spill—in this case Soundview Transportation LLC of Guilford, Conn., the commercial trucking arm of East River Energy—making it responsible for 100% of the costs of the cleanup. If negligence is found, the state can recover 150% of its expenses.

A report in the online news site, CT Insider—quoting state DEEP officials—found that in any given year,
there are between 1,200 and 1,800 incidents involving transportation of hazardous materials in
Connecticut. In 2022, the gas spill in Norfolk was one of 1,466 incidents. There is no easily accessible
public record of the cleanup costs and how much was recovered by the state. A crash similar to what occurred in Norfolk took place in 2011 on Route 8 in Thomaston. As in Norfolk, a tanker truck rolled over in the early morning hours (when traffic, ostensibly, is light), released thousands of gallons of gas (5.000 in Thomaston, 8,200 in Norfolk) and involved a relatively young driver (26 in Thomaston, 27 in Norfolk). Again, no data was available on the cost of the cleanup.

According to Riiska, the town has billed the trucker’s insurance company about $260,000. This includes
costs to the town of retaining its own environmental counsel (about $40,000 to date), replacement of
equipment used in the initial response by the fire departments of Norfolk and Canaan ($100,000) as well
as the costs of temporary housing for nearby residents.