Grant to Fund Groundwater Cleanup near Former Tire Plant in Windsor, Vt.

Jan. 12—WINDSOR, Vt. — The former Goodyear plant could be getting some help from the federal government in the form of a $240,000 Environmental Protection Agency grant to clean up contaminated groundwater.

Rebecca Basch, assistant director of the Southern Windsor County Regional Planning Commission said Tuesday that an unidentified contaminant has been found in the ground water underneath the former tire plant.

"It's not a large amount," Basch said. "It's likely used motor oil." The grant money will be used to install a pump and treat system, Basch said, that will pump the water out and remove the contaminant.

Her agency is partnering with the site's owner, the Connecticut River Development Corporation as well as the Windsor Improvement Corporation to apply for the grant money.

The CRDC and WIC have already agreed to come up with the necessary $40,000 match for the $200,000 federal grant, Basch said.

The grant program Basch is applying for is specifically intended for sites like the Goodyear plant, which is ineligible for the SWCRPC's own revolving loan fund.

Basch said the SWCRPC was given a grant of $1 million by the EPA to establish a revolving loan fund for environmental clean up initiatives.

The Goodyear plant does not qualify for any of those loans, Basch said, because it did not have an EPA approved site assessment performed before a 2000 deadline.

Basch said she will know sometime in late spring or early summer if the grant application is successful.

The CRDC took over Goodyear plant in 1987 and has since brought in about a dozen small businesses to the site, including handmade glass company Simon Pearce.