Banned chemicals PCBs found in East Montpelier’s U-32, remediation underway
U-32 Middle and High School in East Montpelier has joined dozens of schools in the state testing positive for the toxins, also called polychlorinated biphenyls.
By Alicia Wolfram
January 11, 2024
As testing for the banned chemicals known as PCBs in Vermont schools continues, the number of schools with signs of contamination has been climbing.
U-32 Middle and High School in East Montpelier has joined dozens of schools in the state testing positive for the toxins, also called polychlorinated biphenyls. On Nov. 27, Principal Steven Dellinger-Pate and district Superintendent Meagan Roy sent out a newsletter informing parents that spaces in the school registered PCBs at levels higher than state exposure limits — the case, according to state data, for multiple other schools around Vermont.
Remediation was underway, and according to state toxicologist Sarah Owen of the Vermont Department of Health, contaminant levels at U-32 were on the lower side of tested schools, with the highest reading there measuring 210 nanograms per cubic meter.
“The highest level that we’ve seen in a school in Vermont is 6,300 (nanograms per cubic meter),” said Owen. “So overall these results at U-32 are quite low.”
PCBs are a group of 209 manmade chemicals that, before 1980, were commonly used in building materials and electrical equipment. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency banned the manufacture of PCBs in 1979. In older structures the chemicals can be found in building materials like caulk, fluorescent light ballasts, mastics and glues, said Owen.
Sources of exposure to the chemicals include contaminated air or dust, skin contact with contaminated materials and certain animal food products.
2021’s Act 74 required all schools built or renovated prior to 1980 be tested for polychlorinated biphenyls by July 2027. Originally built in 1971, U-32 falls into the category for required testing.
The health effects of PCBs depend on quantity, frequency and duration of exposure. They are carcinogenic and can affect the nervous, immune, reproductive and endocrine systems.
Vermont sets exposure levels at which regulators can require schools to make fixes that will lower PCB exposure. For people from seventh grade to adult age, that level is 100 nanograms per cubic meter. For kindergarten to sixth grade the number drops to 60 nanograms per cubic meter, and for pre-K, the number drops again to 30.
Funding for testing comes from $4.5 million the Legislature granted the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation, according to Patricia Coppolino, senior environmental program manager at the department. U-32 contracted Stone Environmental Inc., an environmental consulting firm in Montpelier, to carry out the testing and remediation. Recommendations must be approved by three state departments, according to Roy, the district superintendent.
Stone tested about a third of the school’s rooms and spaces, and out of the 69 tested areas, 18 were at or above the 100 nanograms per cubic meter seventh grade to adult-age action level.
According to the results shared with parents in the Nov. 27 letter, the highest level found of 210 nanograms per cubic meter was in a storage space behind the auditorium. Most of the other areas that tested at or above school action levels were also storage spaces..
According to the letter, U-32 planned to purchase carbon air filters for each impacted space in the building to use in the short term while Stone Environmental developed a mitigation plan. The firm’s mitigation effort was still ongoing as of mid-December.
“We follow the recommendations of the Department of Health and partner with them and follow their guidelines,” said Roy, “and all of our spaces right now are safe to occupy while we remediate.”
U-32 held a public information session about the results Nov. 29 with representatives from the Vermont Agency of Education, Department of Health and Department of Environmental Conservation.