This is an active contaminated site that needs to be remediated as of 2021

SUPERFUND SITE

the John Swift Chemical company Superfund site is located at 51 Albany Turnpike in Canton, CT. The buried carcinogenic (cancer-causing) waste has never been properly cleaned up (as of 2025).

J. Swift Chemical Company, Canton, CT

The J. Swift Chemical Company recycled solvents in the 1950s and 1960s at a small facility on Route 44 in Canton. Waste solvent sludges were buried at the site and contamination from a variety of chlorinated and non-chlorinated solvents is present on the site. In the early 1980s, the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) coordinated the extension of a public water main to serve affected and potentially affected properties, along with a limited emergency removal of impacted soil and drums, with State expenditures of over $1,000,000.

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The J. Swift Chemical Company is no longer a viable entity. Despite a 2000 court judgment for enforcement of a DEP order to the present property owner, the owner has not remediated the property, has not paid taxes on the property, and has indicated that it has no assets. The current property owner is Cadle Company, a large out-of-state land holding company. The 2000 court action against Cadle resulted in judgment of over $2.1 million to the State. To date, less than $200,000 has been recovered. In 1997, a similar Judgment against the former owner, Gianfranco Galluzzo, granted injunctive relief and about $9 million in penalties, with no money collected. The site is presently occupied by Mitchell Volkswagen.

Site assessments were performed under DEP State Superfund contracting in 1990 and 2000, to characterize and update information on site conditions. Total expenditures for those studies were $700,000. Potential risks to neighboring properties from off-gassing of the contaminated groundwater were identified. In August 2004, off-site soil vapor and groundwater samples were collected from neighboring commercial and residential properties by DEP to further evaluate the potential risks. In January 2006, bids were received for the installation of venting systems at six downgradient commercial properties determined to be at long-term risk. The contract was not awarded due to lack of funds.

In 2007, a sub-slab depressurization system was installed at an impacted residence on Old Albany Turnpike. In 2009, residential wells located beyond the municipal water service on Secret Lake Road were sampled by DEP and found to be potable. Recently, vapor intrusion measures have been installed on neighboring properties, the cost of which has been borne by the developers of those properties. In 2013 the site was reassessed. The remediation of the remaining contamination at the site will be dependent on pending bond funding. It has been estimated that $4.4 million will be needed to proceed with remediation of solvent contamination.

For more information on the John Swift Chemical Company State Superfund Site, please contact the DEEP Remediation Division Project Manager Robert Robinson.

State of Connecticut Superfund ProgramThe State Superfund Program oversees and provides funding for the remediation of contaminated sites. The use of State funds for remediation at hazardous waste sites is determined by calculating a superfund priority score in accordance with Connecticut Regulations.

1992

Oct. 4, 1992

NEW YORK TIMES / by Eleanor Charles

"in the region: Connecticut and westchester; Land Owners' Risk: Waste Cleanup Costs"

In the Region: Connecticut and Westchester; Land Owners' Risk: Waste Cleanup Costs (Published 1992)

(excerpted from NY Times article) The first state-financed Superfund site, identified by the department in 1989, is in Canton, where the town had already spent $454,000 to extend water lines to eight houses where wells had become polluted. A Small Cities Grant of $500,000 has been obtained to service 60 additional houses.

The source was the J. Swift Chemical Company, a solvents reprocessing company that went out of business two decades ago. The building was demolished, but thousands of gallons of tetrachlorethylene and prichlorethylene from buried drums continue to leach underground from the site on Old Albany Turnpike toward homes at Secret Lake.

"We feel we've done what we could," said First Selectman Kathleen D. Corkum, "but it doesn't address cleanup of the site itself. People in the area are saddled with a problem they didn't create. They had good wells, and now they have to pay for connecting to town water and for the water itself." Tie-ups will be voluntary - the alternative is bottled drinking water.

The property was bought in 1986 by Gianfranco Galluzzo, a Meriden lawyer, who did not respond to phone calls. "I imagine he's just stuck with the property," Mr. Powers said. "Cleanup could cost anywhere from $4 million to $30 million." Work is expected to start next spring. [ READ the full New York Times article ]