Cleanup underway on Center Street parcel in Pownal

POWNAL — Environmental remediation work is underway on a Pownal site that contains some of the earliest PFAS (perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances) contamination in Bennington County.

The now-vacant 2.9-acre parcel at the corner of Center Street, North Pownal Road and Route 7, was the location of a former Warren Wire Co. facility during the 1950s.

“Soil that has the potential to leach more PFAS into groundwater is being excavated and disposed off site,” Kimberly Caldwell, an environmental analyst with the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation’s Waste Management and Prevention Division, said in an email. “Following the excavation, long-term groundwater monitoring will continue.”

The work is being performed this week by ABScope Environmental Inc., an environmental reme