United States Environmental Protection Agency
Region I
POLLUTION REPORT

Subject: 

The Inter Royal Site was the location of a large (over 1,000,000 square feet) abandoned mill structure located in the center of Plainfield, Connecticut.  Originally constructed as a textile mill in approximately 1906, Inter Royal manufactured office and hospital furniture from the mid-1950s until 1985.  Since that time, the Site has been abandoned, except for a plastic recycling operation in a portion of the building in 1991/1992.

On Tuesday, April 26, 2005 a fire destroyed the northern third of the mill, which was comprised primarily of a three-story brick and timber structure.  Other ancillary structures in this northern portion include the boiler room, smokestack, and water tower.  The southern 2/3 of the Site includes a sprawling single-story mill structure, which was not damaged by the fire but is in an advanced state of decay and was partially demolished approximately five years ago.  See previous polreps for additional background information.

As a result of the fire, potentially-asbestos-contaminated fire debris was deposited over an area measuring approximately five miles long by one-half mile wide.  Based on funding limitations and the magnitude of the problem, DEP requested that EPA take over the cleanup of this debris field.  Based on this request, discussions with local, state, and federal health agencies, and the presence of friable asbestos-containing material on residential properties, EPA’s Superfund Removal Program initiated an emergency removal action on the morning of Thursday, 28 April 2005.

See previous polreps for removal activities conducted prior to June 1, 2005.  

The ERRS contractor remobilized to the Site on June 15, 2005 to conduct transportation and disposal (T&D) activities relative to the five PCB-containing, wall-mounted transformers recovered during demolition activities.  The transformers were overpacked on June 15, 2005 and shipped off-site for disposal on June 17, 2005.  Final demobilization occurred on June 17, 2005.

No further removal actions are planned

Once the results of EPA's sampling activities become available, EPA will make the data available to state and local authorities.

One roll-off container (approximately 5 tons) of asbestos-containing debris and spent PPE was shipped to Valley Landfill (USA Waste Services, Inc.) in Irwin, Pennsylvania on May 26, 2005.

Five overpacked, 35-gallon transformers containing PCBs were shipped to Clean Harbors Environmental Services, Inc. in Philadelphia, Pennylvania on June 17, 2005.