This morning, Attorney General William Tong announced the entrance of Soundview Transportation into a $350,000 settlement for its role in a Norwalk gasoline spill, the largest in state history, that occurred in 2022. The settlement also stipulated that Soundview be fully responsible for the ongoing multimillion-dollar site remediation and clean-up process.
“Soundview’s tanker accident resulted in the largest oil spill in Connecticut history—with severe disruption to neighbors and significant environmental harm,” said Tong. “Soundview has taken responsibility for the ongoing remediation, and the state continues to closely monitor that work. Today’s $350,000 settlement, including a substantial penalty, sends a clear message that those who violate our environmental laws will be held accountable.”
The settlement also addressed two smaller spills associated with Soundview that occurred in 2023, one in Milford and another at the Gateway Montville terminal. Both of these spills have since been remediated.
The Norwalk spill occurred on November 5, 2022, when an oil tanker truck operated by Soundview crashed into a utility pole and fire hydrant on Route 44 in Norfolk. The truck rolled over, sliding several hundred feet, emitting sparks while spilling its full cargo of 8,200 gallons of gasoline. The gas contaminated nearby lawns and the town’s sewer system, which spread the contamination to nearby surface and groundwater deposits.
In response, Norfolk declared a local state of emergency, and Eversource was tasked with shutting off power to the neighborhood of the spill while Aquarion was told to make sure adequate water flowed to supply potential firefighting efforts. The spill was attended to by the Norfolk Volunteer Fire Department and DEEP’s Emergency Response Unit, and 20 other mutual aid companies. Due to fear of an explosion, the town issued evacuation orders for the affected area. Residents were barred from returning until the risk of gas explosion or fire could be counted out.
“The concentration of toxic and potentially explosive gasoline chemicals, including volatile organic compounds, led authorities to immediately evacuate all nearby residents – at least six residences worth of people – and the nearby elementary school,” read Tong’s statement.
While most residents were barred from returning to their homes until later in the day, two residents had to wait until January 2024 to be cleared to return to their homes. The Town of Norfolk had to pay for the temporary housing of these two for the little over a year period in which they were barred from returning to their homes.
The remediation involved the removal of approximately 600 tons of contaminated soil from the two properties closest to the spill, as well as the removal of 90,000 gallons of contaminated water. 64 test wells were put in place to monitor the spread of contaminants, and roads across town had to be closed at various points to allow ground crews to address the contamination.
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This story sums up environmental journalism in Connecticut. Go speak to the residents and homeowners in the area of the crash. Ask them how things have been going since the rollover in their neighborhood. The AG and Commissioner Dykes filed suit yesterday, and today they are settled. The message is the AG and DEEP pulled $350K from Soundview prior to filing suit. The suit is open-shut case. $200K of that money goes to the DEEP ERU for 8 hours of site supervision. $100K to legal for $5k worth of paperwork. So what about the people? How is their lawsuit going? I’ll ask the same question 6 years from now. The answer will be the same.
DEEP Pockets. I know what those residents are going through. It’s the nightmare that never ends. And it’s about to get a lot worse in Connecticut.