$2.9 Million Settlement Reached Over Durham Meadows Superfund Site

Durham Manufacturing has agreed to reimburse the state and federal governments $2.9 million for costs accrued from the removal of contaminated soil at the Durham Meadows Superfund site.

The Durham-based business entered into a consent agreement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in a agreed-upon settlement that was finalized on Sept. 9, the EPA said in a statement.


Through the settlement, Durham Manufacturing will pay four separate installments of $725,000, plus interest, over the next four years, the first of which will be paid out within the first 30 days, the consent agreement detailed.

In addition, the company agreed to perform certain response actions at the site, estimated to cost approximately $1.1 million, the EPA said in a statement.

This is the second major settlement made regarding the Durham Meadows Site, the first of which was a $20.1 million agreed-upon settlement between the government and Merriam Manufacturing Company in January 2012. 

The Superfund Site is made up of a pair of large Main Street parcels owned by Durham Manufacturing and Merriam Manufacturing. In recent years, the soils at these properties were tested positive for contaminates, resulting from pollutants and chemicals that seeped into the grounds during the years before environmental laws were put into place.

This lead to the government discovering contaminates in drinking water in the early 1980s, and a 1982 then-Department of Environmental Protection (now the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection) ordering both Merriam and Durham Manufacturing to provide filtration systems and bottled water for residents who lived in the area of the site, explained Anni Loughlin, EPA project manager.

The goal now is to excavate the remaining contaminated soil, and bring in a water line from Middletown to provide potable drinking water for the homes in the area of the Superfund site, Loughlin said.