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EPA Defers the Broad Brook Mill Site to Connecticut DEP for Cleanup under State Authority

Release Date: 12/11/2003
Contact Information: Alice Kaufman, EPA Community Involvement Office, 617-918-1064 Jim Murphy, EPA Community Affairs, 617-918-1028 Matt Fritz, CT DEP Public Affairs, 860-424-4117

BOSTON - The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), and United Technologies Corp. and its wholly owned subsidiary Hamilton Sundstrand Corp. (Hamilton Sundstrand) have agreed to defer finalizing the listing of the Broad Brook Mill site on EPA’s Superfund National Priorities List. As a result of the agreements, the Broad Brook Mill site will be cleaned up under state authority. If the cleanup does not proceed according to the agreements, the EPA can renew efforts to finalize the listing of Broad Brook Mill under the federal Superfund law.

The Broad Brook Mill site, formerly known as the Millbrook Condominiums site, is located in the Broad Brook section of East Windsor, Conn. It had been used since 1835 for a variety of industrial operations, and after a 1986 fire, the surviving mill building was converted to a 21 residential unit condominium building.

The Broad Brook Mill site was proposed for the federal Superfund list in December 2000. At that point, EPA, DEP, and Hamilton Sundstrand began discussing alternative ways to clean up the site. This led to this week’s agreement to defer finalizing the listing of the site in favor of a cleanup under state authority. As part of the agreement, a Hamilton Sundstrand entity will buy out the owners of the 21 residential units, allowing the cleanup to move ahead quicker.

Under EPA’s deferral:

• the cleanup must be at least as protective of human health and the environment as a response required under the Superfund program.
• the site must be addressed at least as quickly as EPA would address the site.
• the community must continue to be informed and involved throughout the decision-making process.
• EPA will continue to oversee the project, and participate in all public meetings.
• the site will remain proposed to the NPL until the cleanup is complete, at which time EPA will consider withdrawing the proposed NPL listing.

Certain activities must still be completed before these activities can begin. The Millbrook condominium association must agree to convey the 21 residential units in the mill building and surrounding property to a Hamilton Sundstrand entity so residents in the mill building can be relocated. Also, under the deferral plan, DEP will pay $3.9 million to help pay for cleanup being done by Hamilton Sundstrand. This amount represents the state’s contribution to the cleanup of pollution caused by entities other than Hamilton Sundstrand.

Although a cleanup plan for the site can be developed and groundwater cleanup can begin after residential units are transferred, cleanup of the soil and any sediment pollution will not occur until state funding for those activities is secured.

More information about the site is available in a detailed fact sheet, which may be found on the EPA New England web site at: www.epa.gov/ne/superfund/sites/broadbrook. The deferral agreement between EPA and DEP as well as the consent order between DEP and Hamilton Sundstrand are available on the web site, and copies have been placed in a public information repository at the Library Association of Warehouse Point. The Agreement for Recovery of Past and Future Response Costs between EPA and Hamilton Sundstrand is subject to a 30-day public comment period; copies of this agreement will be available from EPA site contacts, and on EPA’s website during the comment period.