NAUGATUCK — A superfund site capped for 20 years could be put to new use with a plan to install solar panels on the old landfill.
The Laurel Park Landfill off Hunters Mountain Road was used since the late 1940s as a dump site for companies such as Naugatuck Glass, Unisys, Cadbury and Uniroyal Chemical, the Republican-American previously reported.
When the then-state Department of Environmental Protection discovered traces of the toxin TCDD on the site in 1987, the state and the federal Environmental Protection Agency shut down the site and sued the then-owner Harold Murtha for $22.4 million to clean up the site.
In 1997, officials finished capping the site with dirt and plastic to prevent the leaking of toxins from the trash. The cap covers 19 acres of the 35-acre parcel.
The landfill has sat dormant since then, with the EPA periodically testing the site for groundwater contamination. The landfill is due for its five year review next year, according to Jim Murphy, community involvement coordinator for the EPA.
Now, Naugatuck Mayor N. Warren “Pete” Hess wants to turn the environmental liability into an asset by installing solar panels on the site. The project could generate revenue for the borough while reducing its carbon footprint.
Solar panels are common on many superfund landfill sites across New England, Murphy said.
Hess said he is working with consultants to create a project that will meet state requirements and reaching out to the EPA to make sure the panels wouldn’t interfere with the cap.
Energy consultant Gary Hale of Advanced Energy Efficiencies said he’s waiting for the state to announce solicitation for clean energy projects before designing a project to meet the state’s specifications.
“We’re waiting for the rules to be set,” Hale said.
The site could produce two to three megawatts of energy, Hale said, which would either be sold back into the grid or go toward the borough’s biggest energy users.
“Naugatuck would move forward in trying to be a community that hosts more and more clean energy,” Hale said. “It would be a nice project, but the devil is always in the details.”
The site is currently maintained by the Laurel Park Coalition and owned by Laurel Park Inc., so the borough would have to work out a deal with them, Hess said.
Laurel Park Inc. owes the borough about $212,682 in taxes dating back to 2012, according to the borough’s online database. Laurel Park Coalition owes an additional $9,242.
