Between 1919 and 1989, Raymark Industries, Inc. operated a 34-acre facility in Stratford, Connecticut that manufactured brakes, clutch parts, and friction components for the automotive industry. Manufacturing waste was initially disposed of on-site as fill. Liquid wastes were stored in several settling lagoons that discharged through a culvert into Ferry Creek. Sludge was excavated from the lagoons and dumped on numerous residential, commercial and municipal properties around Stratford, and several wetlands along the Housatonic River. In April 1995, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) listed the former Raymark facility and associated contaminated sites on the National Priorities List (NPL) of Superfund sites.

Investigations by EPA and the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (CTDEEP) found that the waste primarily consisted of asbestos, copper, lead, zinc, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and dioxins. High levels of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and semi-volatile organic compounds (SVOCs) were also found in soils on the former facility and in contaminated wetland sediments. EPA excavated the waste and contaminated soil from the residential properties and transported the material back to the former Raymark facility where it was consolidated with on-site waste and covered with an impermeable cap. Following the completion of the cap, the property was redeveloped and is now a shopping center. In cooperation with EPA, CTDEEP installed sub-slab ventilation systems in over 100 houses to address the potential intrusion of VOCs into buildings. Remedial activities on the other sites are ongoing and include the installation of stormwater management structures, installation of low-permeable caps, and the removal of contaminated soils and sediments from wetlands to replace with clean fill.

The Natural Resource Trustees initially presented a claim for $20 million to compensate for injuries to natural resources, however, the potentially responsible party (PRP) filed for bankruptcy in 1998. The PRP’s funds and assets were severely limited and in 2005, the Trustees negotiated a natural resource damages agreement to recover approximately $526,000 for habitat restoration and to reimburse the Trustees’ administrative costs. The funds were combined with settlement funds from the Lordship Point Gun Club Site and Connecticut Trustee SubCouncil of the Housatonic River RCRA Site to restore 34 acres of tidal salt marsh at the Great Meadows Marsh Unit (GMMU) of the Stewart McKinney National Wildlife Refuge.