J&L cleanup to start

Cleanup of some of the worst industrial pollution at the former Jones & Lamson Machine Tool Co. will be done this summer, thanks to state and federal funding.

http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20110329/NEWS02/703299909/1003/NEWS02

Published March 29, 2011 in the Rutland Herald

J&L cleanup to start

By SUSAN SMALLHEER

SPRINGFIELD — Money for the environmental cleanup of the old Jones & Lamson Machine Tool Co. arrived in Springfield Monday — not in the mail, but in person.

Gov. Peter Shumlin brought a check for $170,000, and Thomas Kennedy delivered $400,000 from the Southern Windsor County Regional Planning Commission, via the Environmental Protection Agency’s brownfields funding.

The money is expected to be used to clean up some of the worst environmental contamination at the former machine tool company, which closed its doors in the mid-1980s.

Bob Flint, executive director of the Springfield Regional Development Corp., which owns the building, said the money would be used to demolish the old “chip shed” in the back of the property next to the Black River, as well as remove the contaminated soil around it.

He said the cleanup and demolition would start in June.

Town Manager Robert Forguites said the money was “a small step for an important step” toward redeveloping the property.

“This is not going to be seen,” said Forguites, noting much of the work would not be readily visible to residents driving by the building.

Flint said the money will also be used to eliminate the asbestos contamination in the portion of the historic building that the development group has agreed to maintain.

Springfield Regional Development Corp. has owned the building since 2002, and Flint estimated it would cost between $2 million and $3 million to clean up all the contamination at the site.

The chip shed is where the chips of oil-coated steel and other metals were stored, and the oil eventually found its way into the ground. “All the old shops have chip sheds,” said Flint, who is coordinating the cleanup and redevelopment of the three major machine tool companies.

Under an agreement with the Division for Historic Preservation, SRDC is demolishing a large section of the sprawling and extremely dilapidated machine tool company, which stretches for more than a quarter mile down Clinton Street.

Flint said 60,000 square feet of the building will be spared from the wrecking ball, largely the former office portion of the manufacturing building.

At its height, J&L employed more than 1,000 people, and made precision machinery such as lathes and comparators.

Calling it “our little fixer-upper,” Flint told a gathering outside the main entrance to J&L Monday morning that redeveloping the large manufacturing plant was a challenge being tackled piece by piece.

“How do you eat an elephant?” he said. “One mouthful at a time.”

Shumlin said redeveloping the old manufacturing facility would be key to ensuring a prosperous future for Springfield.

“This is a small step forward,” said Shumlin, who added that former state economic development chief Elbert “Al” Moulton, and later his daughter, Patricia Moulton Powden, worked hard for Springfield’s economic future.

Moulton Powden is now part of the Shumlin administration, and was on hand for Monday’s ceremony. She is deputy secretary of the Agency of Commerce. She was the executive director of SRDC from 1996 to February 2003, when she left to join the administration of former Gov. James Douglas.

Gov. Peter Shumlin, second from left, poses for a photo while meeting with local officials about the Jones & Lamson Machine Tool Co.
Photo: Vyto Starinskas / Staff Photo