Troy Mills Inc. went into Chapter 7 bankruptcy (dissolution) in 2003, and its landfill on Rockwood Brook was added to the National Priorities List on September 29, 2003. The landfill is about 1.5 miles from the center of Troy, situated off a former rail line (now a trail) on a 270-acre property. Troy Mills used 11-acres of the property as an industrial waste disposal area from 1967 to 2001. Between 1967 and 1978 two acres of the 11-acre landfill were used for disposal of drums of liquid waste and sludge containing Varsol, vinyl resins, plasticizers, pigments, top-coating products and industrial organic solvents. After 1978, the remaining nine acres were used to dispose of waste fabric scraps and other solid waste from the company's manufacturing complex.
During 2004 and 2005 the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) removed 7,687 buried drums containing almost 30,000 gallons of flammable liquid waste and more than 3,000 cubic yards of other wastes. 26,000 tons of contaminated soils were also removed, and all materials were safely disposed off-site. EPA re-graded the site, placed clean fill, and seeded it. It was determined that the permeable soil cap over the former drum disposal area would be protective of human health and the environment provided that with restrictions on groundwater and property use were maintained. The record of decision (ROD), signed in September 2005, requires long-term environmental monitoring, maintenance of the residual floating groundwater contamination interceptor trenches and Landfill cap and establishment of property use restrictions.
Since October 2006, the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services (NHDES) has been implementing the ROD under a Cooperative Agreement with EPA.
The town elected not to accept ownership of the property from the bankruptcy court, and future ownership is uncertain. The bankruptcy trustee has granted NHDES a permanent easement both to access the 270 acre property and to restrict activities and uses in the vicinity of the former disposal site and the groundwater management zone. The easement is on record at the Cheshire County Registrar of Deeds.
Monitoring of the ground water and surface water continues under NHDES supervision. Early indications suggest that natural attenuation of contaminants is occurring, and that most if not all of the source area has been removed. Monitoring will continue to assure that contaminates do not escape the delineated groundwater management zone until it can be demonstrated that the remedy is complete and successful. A Five-Year Review is due in September 2010.