More PCBs in Schools

Glastonbury Council Considers Funding For Start Of Window Replacement At School
PCBs Must Be Removed From Caulk And Bricks At Gideon Welles
GLASTONBURY — Although the Environmental Protection Agency requires that the town develop a plan to remove PCBs from window caulk and bricks at Gideon Welles School, the federal agency has no required timetable for the work.
Kevin W. Miller, president of Fuss & O'Neill EnviroScience LLC, told the town council recently that although the regulations are clear that "you have to do something," the EPA is "silent about the time frame."
"If the EPA believes there is a risk to health and the environment, they might require follow-up air and wipe tests. There is no evidence there is a risk to staff and students," he said.
PCBs — polychlorinated biphenyls — are chemical compounds that were used widely as an insulating material before their manufacture was banned in the late 1970s. They are suspected carcinogens.

The drafty windows — installed when the school was built in 1967 — were on the replacement schedule for years before the PCBs were found in their caulking. The chemical has been leaching into the masonry and other materials around the frames — increasing the cost of removing it from the original estimate of $810,000 to $1.67 million. The state could reimburse the town for $300,000 to $350,000 of the total cost.
Town Manager Richard J. Johnson noted that a further delay of the project could drive the cost even higher.
Town officials said the project would be done in phases over two summers and funding would be spread out over several years. The council now is trying to determine how much to budget for the work in it 2011-12 capital improvement program.
School Superintendent Alan B. Bookman said Friday that the summer of 2012 would be the earliest the project could start.
"The most important thing to do is submit some kind of plan," he said. "We are required by law to do that as soon as the PCBs were detected."
Miller said anything discovered with PCBs above 50 parts per million needs to have a disposal plan approved by the EPA. The PCBs discovered in the caulk had levels "in the thousands" of ppm, Miller said. He said the risk to students and staff would be from ingestion of dust or caulking that flakes off.
"This is typical of what we see," he said of the levels. "The oils seep into the bricks and concrete and all that material needs to be cleaned up and disposed of properly."
Council Chairwoman Susan Karp said the council will decide next month on the funding for the project, adding that the safety of the people in the building is "always our highest priority."