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Public Meeting Will Explain Upcoming Work to Remove Contamination at Chrome Engineering Site in Bridgeport, Conn.

Release Date: 03/29/2010
Contact Information: Contact: Emily Zimmerman, (617) 918-1037

(Boston, Mass. – March 29, 2010) – EPA has developed a timeline for removing 600 tons of contaminated surface soils at the Chrome Engineering site in Bridgeport, Conn. under a short-term removal action to stabilize the site. The site, located at 405 Central Avenue in Bridgeport, has been worked on since it was abandoned after a large fire in 1997.

EPA will host a public meeting for interested local citizens to get more information and ask questions about the work plans.  The meeting will be held on Monday, April 5th from 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. at the Jettie S. Tisdale School (located at 205 Hollister Ave. in Bridgeport). Residents can find out more information about the details of the removal action, including any inconveniences or additional noise residents might experience. EPA will also explain the Agency’s role in the site in the future.

The city of Bridgeport used an EPA Brownfields grant of $200,000 to partially fund cleanup of the Chrome Engineering site in 2007 and 2008. In January 2009, the City of Bridgeport discovered high levels of cadmium (a heavy metal) in the soil at the site. Since January 2009, it was also determined that the contracted disposal facility could not take the extra 600 tons of contaminated soil, and the costs for disposal increased.

EPA’s Removal Program has collected samples of the soils, and in August 2009 found three additional heavy metals contaminating the soil: barium, cadmium, chromium and lead. Exposure to these metals can pose threats to public health and the environment.

Since this data was collected, the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection requested that EPA’s Emergency Planning and Response Branch consider the Site for a removal action due to the hazardous contamination of the topsoil. 

During the first week in April, EPA will mobilize to the Site to begin the removal effort. After securing the site and preparing a temporary gravel road for the disposal trucks to travel on the property, we will begin removing the contaminated soil. The removal action will protect public health, welfare and the environment from threats posed by the site-specific contamination. EPA anticipates that the removal effort will not take longer than three weeks. EPA will dispose of the 600 tons of contaminated soil to an EPA approved hazardous waste facility.

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