Officials: Test soil before future school projects begin [Hearst]

June 18, 2014

Stamford Advocate

Greenwich school officials on Monday pledged to test soil for contamination before beginning future school building projects and a majority of the town’s legislative delegation supported turning that mandate into state law.

Their comments came a day after Hearst Connecticut Media on Sunday reported Greenwich had compelling evidence two years before starting a new auditorium project at Greenwich High School that something foul was lurking underground.

Yet no one looked or tested the soil until a backhoe operator, digging a trench at the start of the new Music Instructional Space and Auditorium project in 2011, brought up scoopfuls of oily muck containing PCBs and other toxins.

“I would absolutely be interested in supporting that,” said state Sen. L. Scott Frantz, R-Greenwich, referring to requiring environmental testing on school property before new construction.

“It won’t cost much to test. There should be a requirement that soil be tested before putting a building up to see if there is anything that could be harmful to children,” Frantz said.

Greenwich Schools Superintendent William McKersie said he’s readying a proposal for the Board of Education that would mandate an environmental evaluation, including soil analysis, before construction begins at any town school.

“The health and safety of students, staff and members of the community using our schools is of paramount importance to me,” McKersie said.

Board of Estimate and Taxation Chairman Michael Mason said soil testing could be made a condition for release of town funds for future building projects.

“That would be on there,” said Mason. “I like to call it concept to completion. When we get a project, we’d be able to say, `Here’s the checklist to be followed.’ ”

The Hearst investigation showed town officials in 2009 discovered “little cinders” in the ground — clear evidence of something burned and not the clean soil that should have been there — during soil stability borings at the high school. That was two years before the backhoe operator found contaminated soil.

An engineer working on a road outside the high school property during the late 1960s told Hearst he saw dump trucks leave loads of ash on the property. He said the ash, which was used to fill in a wetland that once dominated the property, came from the town’s former garbage incinerator and the former Cos Cob power plant.

Ash from the incinerator and electric plant are now known to contain PCBs and other toxins. The town’s environmental consultant last year concluded fill “provided by the town” during the late 1960s is the source of contamination found at the school.

Soil remediation has helped drive up the MISA price tag to $46 million, and the town faces a bill of up to $17 million for remediation and cleanup of other areas at the GHS campus. Summer school classes at the high school will be moved to Central Middle School and some athletic fields could temporarily close as the four-year remediation process moves forward.

State Rep. Livvy Floren, R-Greenwich, said a new state law mandating environmental testing before school projects begin is a good idea.

State Rep. Stephen Walko, R- Greenwich, said a new state law is “not a bad idea. This is a wakeup call for any school district. Testing would be useful, but if you find anything you have purchased another project.”

Frantz said decades ago it was common for communities across the nation to use ash from incinerators or power plants as fill — before modern environmental regulators banned the practice.

“I don’t think that would have been a bad idea, but it was not a requirement. I don’t think anyone did anything wrong. I can’t imagine any town agency or executive branch trying to cover up something like that,” Frantz said.