A Disheartening Veto

A Setback For The Environment

Keeping wetlands wet

Newtown and the state Department of Environmental Protection should do all they can to make sure the Housatonic Railroad's expansion of a waste transfer station either has no impact on local wetlands or that the project does not happen.

... Businesses are legally and morally compelled to abide by those regulations. The Housatonic Railroad appears to have fallen short of that standard.
Complete editorial at Danbury NewsTimes 10/21/2009

Show Up And Show Your Concern

The inland wetland meeting scheduled for October 14 at 7:30 pm at 31 Peck's Road will include a public hearing on the Housatonic Railroad Company's (HRRC) revised application to the DEP for the expansion of the transfer station into a solid waste facility on top of the Pond Brook aquifer in Hawleyville.

This revised application represents another maneuver by the HRRC and its garbage business partners to force an unregulated and unwanted transfer station and solid waste facility into the community. For them it has been a game of word-play, admitted embarrassments, experiments, mistakes, encroachments, and trespasses as they have only corrected problems when they have been identified by the town or the neighbors. No one, to include the federally exempt railroad acting as an accommodator for the trash business, should be allowed to continually misrepresent their intentions to further their own economic gains at the expense of the community and the environment.

The amended application that now calls for both storing and moving 1,000 tons of contaminated spoils and soils, scrap tire, treated wood, and construction debris everyday in and out of a huge building from 6 am to 8 pm, six days a week on top of wetlands and an aquifer in a neighborhood is not acceptable now nor will it ever be. Please attend this meeting and voice your concerns against the current transfer station and its proposed expansion — our lives depend on it.

Cathy Winkler
Currituck Road, Newtown October 7, 2009

Railroad Is On The Wrong Track

Thanks to you, the people and officials of Newtown and surrounding communities, Ed Rodrigues and Colin Pease of the Housatonic Railroad Corporation have begun the modification process of the permit application for a solid waste transfer facility and volume reduction facility to the state DEP. Your voice is making the difference.

Since the 1840s the railroad has enjoyed economic prosperity due to the generosity of the Hawleys' land donation for rail. The federal Stagger Act of 1980 enhanced rail prosperity through deregulation, and the 2000 CT DOT grant of $385,000 to the HRRC established the Hawleyville Transload Terminal to handle food grade commodities while strengthening the ability for small and large businesses in western Connecticut without a rail connection to compete in what was considered a highly completive market.

Ed Rodrigues was reported as telling then-first selectman Herb Rosenthal that no hazardous materials will be handled. It was believed that there would be minimal if any impact on the neighborhood. In April 2000, Newtown Planning & Zoning modified zoning in sections of Hawleyville consistent with the Hawleyville Center Design District East, which would permit businesses to include retail, personal services, banks, offices, restaurants, museums, galleries, meeting halls, places of worship, parking, and transportation terminals. It would seem that we were all headed down the same track, so why did the railroad decide to make a contractual agreement with Stamford wrecking/Standard Demolition/Newtown Transload LLC/ Strategic Disposal LLC?

In Section 6.03 of the permit application Assignment Change and Control, it demonstrates that the agreement is for the primary benefit of either Stephen or Irving Goldblum or both of them or their family. Somehow we are off track. It is nicer in Newtown and it seems that we are being taken advantage of. This triangular relationship (Town of Newtown, HRRC, and Standard Demolition) has created mistrust between the HRRC and the town that has been long enjoyed.

We are interested in the railroad being viable, but not at the expense to our community and to the only benefit of one lower Fairfield County business. Their ability to low bid on contracts for the Fairfield Hills demolition seems to be an unfair advantage as they seek the refuge under the umbrella of the federal exemptions that railroads have been given the privilege and the responsibility to safeguard and not use at the expense of the quality of life of individuals and neighborhoods and small towns. So what can you do? Ask the town to exclude any company that is willing to destroy our natural resources and quality of life from contract process, be present at the Inland Wetlands Public Meeting, Wednesday, October 14, 7:30 pm, 31 Peck's Lane, where Goldblum and Rodrigues will be defending their notice of violation to the commission, sign the petition at www.dontwastehawleyville.com and call Attorney General Blumenthal at 860-808-5318.

Ann Marie Mitchell
PO Box 171, Hawleyville October 7, 2009

Rise to the Challenge

"It is the fundamental human right of every child and adult to breathe clean air, drink clean, fresh water and live in a community where every individual's health and safety are equally protected. It is the responsibility of government and those elected federal, state and local officials to serve all persons in this generation and the generations to come through the creation and enactment of laws that secure a healthy environment. We believe in the protection of all wildlife and ecosystems acknowledging their same needs of clean water and clean air for survival and the maintenance of biological lifecycles.

"We, the undersigned, call on Attorney General Blumenthal and Governor J. Rell and the Department of Environmental Protection to prevent the pollution of our Pond Brook Aquifer, by the Housatonic Railroad Corporation and Newtown Transload, LLC. We demand the remediation of our wetlands and the removal of fill that has been dumped on top of our primary class "AA" water source; one that is state mandated to require the highest level of protection. We further call on the Attorney General, Governor J. Rell and the Department of Environmental Protection to secure protection of the Pond Brook aquifer and to oppose the permit application of the Housatonic Railroad Corporation to the Department of Environmental Protection."

No computer? Call Attorney General Blumenthal at 860-808-5318, Robert Eisner, DEP, at 860-424-3264, Governor Rell at 800-406-1527, Congressman Chris Murphy at 860-223-8412, and Senator Chris Dodd at 800-334-5341.

We, the people, the community of Newtown and surrounding areas, have a proven track record with getting postal services continued in Hawleyville. We can do this too!

HEAT Rises to the Challenge

I am very impressed with how quickly and effectively the grassroots organization Hawleyville Environmental Advocacy Team (HEAT) has responded to the very serious challenges presented by the Housatonic Railroad's application. The website is so informative and rich with photos and attachments that I keep going back for more. Kudos to the webmaster(s)! It's a little like watching a horror film with your hand over your eyes because you don't want to miss anything, yet you know it's not pretty.

Clearly, even with the group's success with gaining the support of town and state officials to fight the application, the issue hasn't gone away and the worst may still be to come. After reviewing every photo, article, letter, and document found on the site, it's scary when you find out what the Housatonic Railroad has been getting away with and what it is trying to do next. I can't imagine what it must be like to be a neighbor of the HRR facility.

Your readers can help by following the recommendations on the site as I did, and call and/or write to Congressman Chris Murphy, Attorney General Blumenthal and Robert C. Isner, Director of CT's DEP. As the pictures and letters will show, the HEAT now has the support of some state and town officials, but will it be enough?

The Hawleyville Environmental Advocacy Team and its supporters is another example of how effective a group of local citizens can be when they are committed to fixing those things in town that aren't working and to helping others in need. I hope your readers can lend their support.

Editorial Ink Drops: The Waste Land

A tour of the Housatonic Railroad's waste transfer facility in Hawleyville this week evoked the parched images of Eliot's epic poem of universal despair. On Tuesday morning the site was dusty and desolate as industrial sites tend to be, but the tour guides, company officials, were upbeat, seeing promise in their plans to expand and upgrade the waste transfer station there. Unlike Eliot's waste land, however, there is water in Hawleyville, and that has drawn the scrutiny of state and local officials who are concerned about the environmental risks to wetlands associated with the construction and eventual operation of the facility. This week, the town issued another cease and desist order so that everyone involved could stop and think about what is happening in Hawleyville.

Housatonic Railroad is practiced at ignoring the town, rebuffing a notice of violation in 2007 and working right through another notice of violation earlier this month. In 2007, the railroad was exempted by federal law from local regulations. And now, the company argues that the subsequent Clean Railroads Act of 2008, designed to address the lack of environmental oversight of railroad activities, does not give local wetlands agencies jurisdiction over railroad property. Some local and state officials think otherwise, and the state's Attorney General Richard Blumenthal last month agreed that the proposed expansion of the waste transfer site "certainly raises serious environmental and legal issues and must be addressed as soon as possible."

The town's efforts to enforce state wetlands laws were slowly pushing the issue toward a court fight. State Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) inspectors have already concluded that land protected by state wetlands restrictions has been covered with fill. As the DEP processes the permit application for the expansion of its facility, Housatonic Railroad pressed ahead with site preparations for its facility and its attendant railroad spur, and according to local wetlands officials, with its wetlands violations.

While it is true that the Clean Railroads Act of 2008 may give Housatonic Railroad the right to ignore local rules and regulations, the act specifically places the railroad under the authority of the state. What company officials may be forgetting is that the wetlands restrictions local officials are so desperate to enforce in Hawleyville are not local rules or ordinances, but state laws administered by the DEP through local agencies. Section 22a-42d of the act even stipulates that if municipalities fail to enforce state wetlands laws, the DEP commissioner may intervene and do the job for them.

Finally, the state started to push back this week against the railroad's reluctance to recognize state requirements for wetlands preservation. It was not the DEP but Attorney General Blumenthal who took the important step Wednesday of ordering Housatonic Railroad to stop all illegal work at the site or face "prompt action in court." That seemed to get the attention of railroad officials, who showed up at a show cause hearing of the Inland Wetlands Commission Wednesday night, agreeing to cease wetland filling activities and to submit a wetlands application, though they still maintain the commission has no jurisdiction over their operations.

As much as the Housatonic Railroad wants us to ignore the water seeping in and around the big plans it has for its waste land, we have to remember that we are not amongst the rock where "one cannot stop or think." A full stop and a lot of extra thought is needed right now.

Taking Up The Challenge In Hawleyville

We, the people of Hawleyville Environmental Advocacy Team (HEAT), applaud the solidarity, strength and determination that the members of the Legislative Council and First Selectman Joe Borst displayed in their knowledgeable questioning of Housatonic Railroad (HRR) Executive Vice President and General Counsel, Ed Rodriguez for the purpose of safeguarding the public health and safety of the people of Newtown. No longer will the sovereign power of the HRR take advantage of the people of Newtown, and neighborhood of Hawleyville, as they did in 2004 when they railroaded over us by starting a solid waste/materials business under their self-proclaimed "right to do so."

We accept the challenge set before us in opposing the application made by the HRR to the DEP. HEAT opposes the acceptance of any solid waste at the facility. No to solid waste transfer. No to volume reduction. No to being anything except a rail!

Go to www.dontwastehawleyville.com and get on board.

Dave Broughton
Ann Marie Mitchell
Terry Laslo
On behalf of HEAT
PO Box 142, Hawleyville July 22, 2009

Not Just A Hawleyville Problem

In regards to the Housatonic RR's proposal to expand the waste transfer terminal in Hawleyville — it is my hope that The Newtown Bee's front-page article last week was read by many.

The New Times also wrote a powerful article on this subject saying, "Newtown has taken great steps to protect Hawleyville and keep its vision and concept of the area as a New England village," July 13, 2009. The Housatonic Railroad plans are a direct slap in the face of this vision.

Many of Hawleyville's homeowners have been fighting hard to put a stop to this expansion. But this is not just a Hawleyville problem. Everyone in Dodgingtown and Botsford, Sandy Hook and Main Street should be outraged by the prospect of this proposal moving forward. Regardless of proximity to the railroad, there is no doubt that every family, household and business in Newtown will be affected by this project if it is approved.

The Housatonic Railroad wants to expand their Strategic Disposal operation at 30 Hawleyville Road…in the center of Hawleyville to a capacity that would include contaminated soil, used casting sand, coal fly ash, sludge ash, treated woods, scrap tires, crumbled and shredded tires. They plan to operate this waste expansion, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The odor and noise that this will create would spread for miles creating an environmental nightmare.

I would hope that we are all proud to live in such a lovely town. Proud that Newtown retains so much of its historic past and small town beauty.

Now is the time to fight for the history this town holds, so that generations to come can live in every part of Newtown without feelings of fear that their neighborhood might suddenly become an industrial complex.

For more information please contact the website www.dontwastehawleyville.com

Sincerely,
Jane Cottingham
Blackman Farm
16 Blackman Road, Newtown July 21, 2009
Used with permission of The Newtown Bee

Exempted Threats

I recently added my voice to that of the Hawleyville Environmental Advocacy Team in opposition to the Housatonic Railroad's proposed expansion of its solid waste operation in Hawleyville. It is difficult at best to comprehend why a railroad company, or any other kind of industrial enterprise, should be exempted from environmental standards which have been effected with great care by our legislators to protect public health and safety.

Runoff from a privately run "dump" threatens the aquifer — and the residents of the area — in all the same ways a state-regulated site would. That exemption should be removed from the state's policy book with all possible haste.

The Not-So-Picturesque Side Of Railroads

Dear Congressman Murphy:

Whitefish, Mont., is a bucolic village, known for its local ski resort and outdoor beauty. Clear running water, coming out of the mountains of Glacier National Park run into rivers through the picturesque downtown. The locals are environmentalists who cherish and care for their natural environment. Sound like a picture perfect scenario.... not!

There is a railroad that runs through Whitefish, where my sister and her family live. My sister lives very near the railroad switching station. Keep in mind this is only a switching, not a transfer, station. Several months ago, the railroad came to my sister and offered to purchase their property from them. There was no explanation from the railroad, but upon further research my sister and her husband soon realized that their entire neighborhood had been approached by the railroad, as well. As it turns out, the land that their home sits on and the water running in the river near their home is polluted with diesel coming from the railroad switching station. My sister, her family, and their neighbors must now decide whether to uproot their lives or stay and live within a superfund cleanup site.

Imagine... what a waste transfer station will do to the ground, our groundwater, and our environment if a switching station can do so much damage!

Please stop the building of the waste transfer station.

Thank you for your efforts.
Lindy Lintz
19 Poor House Road, Newtown July 9, 2009
Used with permission of The Newtown Bee

Let’s Not Waste Hawleyville

This year marks our 25th year in Hawleyville. We moved here because it was a quiet, safe, and healthy residential area.

Today, in addition to our pond, wetlands, and woodland animals, there is a transfer station that came to Hawleyville unannounced and working below the radar for the past four years! Currently, we don't know what type of debris they store and transfer on site. But, what we do know is that they have filed for a permit to expand the transfer station. The permit for construction and operation of a solid waste facility was filed by the Housatonic Railroad Company in April 2009. They indicate in their application that the site is not located in wetlands and will not impact surface water bodies. These statements are not true. Most of this region is wetland, and the site is about 500 feet from our pond and the stream.

The transfer station plans to expand four-fold to house scrap tires, coal fly ash, sludge ash, construction/demolition debris, wood, treated, painted, and creosoted and potentially hazardous materials such as contaminated dredge spoils and contaminated soil in a 30+/- foot-tall structure. Pollution of the water supply, the land, and the air is a major concern. Research is needed to determine the adverse effects of these potentially hazardous materials stored at the solid waste facility on our community's health.

Additionally, the solid waste facility will operate 24/7 with 180 trucks per day driving through Hawleyville and area towns. This will cause severe traffic congestion. Furthermore, the noise from the transfer station starting at 6 am will be heard around-the-clock. During the winter the noise reverberates along Currituck Road. In the summer it's so loud that it is impossible to leave the windows opened in our home. What happened to our quiet residential area?

Over the past year our pond has diminished to one third of its original size. It had been the home to beavers, fish, and frogs. Now, the level is so low that it can be waded across, and the animals and fish are gone. The railroad personnel stated that the wetlands might have inadvertently been filled in during their snow plowing operations. Now, as referenced in the newspapers, they are filling in the wetlands even before they have a permit. Could it be that the environment has already been adversely affected?

We understand that industries need to grow. However, why in a residential area, when there are other options already available? Why is the Housatonic Railroad Company allowed to fill in wetlands without DEP approval? Why wasn't an environmental impact study part of the process? Why weren't we informed that the lumber yard had now become a transfer station too?

It is important that the community including local towns oppose the transfer station now and its expansion. For information please see the website www.dontwastehawleyville.com.

Respectfully,
Catherine Winkler, PhD, MPH, RN
Currituck Road, Newtown July 8, 2009

No Way To Run A Railroad

As neighbors to the Housatonic Railroad Company's Shepaug Solid Waste Transfer Facility in Hawleyville, we would like to voice our opposition to the "planned" facility. It appears that while the application for the construction and operation is under review, the Housatonic Railroad is not letting the current lack of approval dissuade them from moving ahead with their expansions. Noise levels have increased in recent weeks with activity there starting as early as 6 am. Stockpiled mounds of demolition debris have grown, and low lying wet areas are being filled in with unknown materials.

The site is located in a basin surrounded by hills. Streams, ponds, and marshy areas here feed into Pond Brook, a tributary to the Housatonic River. Just 200 or so feet away is a pond and marsh that is home to beaver and heron. Raccoon, opossum, fox, turkey, deer, coyote, marten, and even an occasional black bear enjoy this scenic refuge. The expansion area for the facility where the fill and rubble is being placed extends northward toward a stream flowing from the pond which later joins Pond Brook near Currituck Road. This stream is an environmental study location for area schools and trout release site for the Trout In The Classroom Program.

The site is located in an aquifer primary recharge area for the Pond Brook region. The potential contamination and health impact from these operations is a serious concern for all persons in that region. Residues, demolition debris containing lead paint, creosote, oil and grease from machinery can all affect surface and groundwater quality.

The permit application raises other questions. What will happen to storm and other runoff? Will it be allowed to percolate into the soil and groundwater or into nearby waterways? What are these wood products that may be stored and ground up? Are fire extinguishers sufficient to deal with a scrap tire fire? It also includes ambiguous points about how the facility will be constructed. We question the assertion in the permit application that the facility is more than 500 feet from any residence.

While we recognize that there is a need to deal with waste materials, this site is certainly not an appropriate location for such a facility. There are much better options already operating in western Connecticut for handling this waste. The Housatonic Railroad's 2007 wetlands violations and current actions do not give us a comfortable feeling that they will be conscientious environmental stewards or contributing citizens of Hawleyville. To the contrary, they appear to be hiding behind a claim of "railroad related activity" to avoid the normal zoning reviews and regulatory oversight. Is this a railroad activity? Or is it a waste handling activity? We say the latter and urge a cease and desist order. We also encourage our neighbors to step forward and voice their concerns to Attorney General Blumenthal and the Department of Environmental Protection, the state department charged with either approving or denying the Housatonic Railroad's permit application.

Dr Helga Jensen Ruopp
James Ruopp
46 Hawleyville Road, Newtown July 1, 2009

Devastating News

What devastating news to read about the Housatonic River Railroad Company's plan for Hawleyville.

My family and I have lived in the Hawleyville area of Newtown for over 32 years. We live on the corner of Blackman and Tunnel Road.

Our kids grew up bicycling up Barnabas Road to mail letters for us at the Historic Hawleyville Post Office, always stopping off to get a treat from the deli. This little neighborhood, which used to be dotted with houses and families, capturing the history of the way Newtown used to be, was a part of their childhood, and is still important in our lives. Sadly, only one home remains.

Developers with grand ideas have always plagued Hawleyville. We had lived here only about a month when a developer had plans to put a huge mall that would have run up Route 25 at Exit 9. They got so far as clearing a large parcel of that land. Fortunately neighbors banded together to protest and we won.

Ideas have come and gone over our 32 years and Barnabas is no longer a country road. We fought the building of the CL&P headquarters on Barnabas Road — and lost. We hear their big utility trucks turning up our street at all hours of the day and night.

We did welcome the addition of Fairfield Equestrian Center. We fought the closing of the Hawleyville Post Office and are thrilled that it will be relocated in the same neighborhood. I think that this type of activism is the key to preserving the integrity of the Hawleyville neighborhood.

As for the latest outrage, I only knew about it from your editorial, which we sincerely thank you for. No one has asked us if we wanted to live near an industrial nightmare, and from what I know, many other residents have been uninformed until now.

It was encouraging to read in the June 12 Newtown Bee that a group has already formed called HEAT — an acronym that stands for Hawleyville Environmental Advocacy Team. I have already contacted them and hope that other homeowners will as well. There is power in numbers and I have always found that letters to The Newtown Bee are very effective.

This is surely the most destructive plan yet for Hawleyville. Let's let the Housatonic Railroad Company know that they are facing a real fight.

Sincerely
Jane Cottingham
16 Blackman Road, Newtown June 14, 2009
Used with permission of The Newtown Bee

Hawleyville Wetlands

It seems that someone is filling in the wetlands along the railroad by Route 25. Is anyone looking into this? When the lumber yard started filling in the wetlands, they were asked to stop, however, what they dumped was never removed.

Hawleyville is an important watershed that filters and feeds the surrounding area with fresh water. Once the groundwater is polluted the source pollution follows the groundwater it will become unusable by those of use who depend on well water. Nationally, wetlands are becoming very scarce.

Wetlands are the birthplace and nurseries for a multitude of beneficial organisms, these organisms will undergo environmental constraints and cannot survive. If we are to go "green" and control or minimize the "carbon footprints" we need to preserve the existing wetlands. By expanding into wetlands....you are dooming the wildlife, including humans in the area.

I ask that you monitor what is happening in this crucial part of Hawleyville and curtail its continuation and further expansion.

Sincerely,
Dr Helga Ruopp
46 Hawleyville Road, Hawleyville June 8, 2009

Editorial Ink Drops: Nothing Is Easy In Hawleyville

On one end of Hawleyville Road, they were celebrating this week. On the other, commiserating.

Late last week, the United States Postal Service reached a milestone in its long tortuous quest to maintain a post office in Hawleyville. It decided to locate a new facility at 23 Barnabas Road to replace the ramshackle, but beloved, post office on Housatonic Railroad property on Hawleyville Road that it unceremoniously abandoned in January.

While local advocates for the beleaguered neighborhood post office are happy with the decision, it is fair to say that few are happy with the way the postal service jitterbugged its way to a resolution of the issue, confusing postal patrons and a few eager developers with a series of stutter-steps, head fakes, and misdirection that first led people to believe that the post office would stay where it was, then would close for good, and then would reappear in one of three places (think three-card monte). Let's hope that now that the project will be delivered into the hands of a private developer, the worst is over and things will move in a straight line toward renewed neighborhood postal service for Hawleyville residents.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the tracks in Hawleyville, the worst is definitely yet to come. The Housatonic Railroad Company's plan to quadruple the capacity of its solid waste transfer station promises to provide Hawleyville with a perpetual soundtrack of growling tractor-trailer compression brakes as 2,000 tons of solid waste are trucked in daily from throughout southwestern Connecticut, get loaded onto railroad cars, and are shipped off on the first leg to a journey to Ohio.

Nobody bothered to ask the nearby Hawleyville residents whether they loved the smell of diesel in the morning... or at noon and night. (Proposed hours for truck deliveries are 6 am to 6 pm Monday through Friday… oh yes, and maybe Saturday morning, too. And the trains? They will be moving through 24/7.) The reason nobody asked is because the people of Hawleyville and Newtown don't have much say in the matter.

Despite the potential for environmental contamination and other public health, safety, and traffic hazards, solid waste sites operated by railroads are accountable only to the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), and even that arm's-length representation of Hawleyville's interests only came about last year with the passage of the federal Clean Railroads Act of 2008. Prior to that, federal law barred all state or local regulation of these so-called "transloading" facilities that have flourished in recent years in this government-created laissez-faire loophole.

As we have already seen, however, the people of Hawleyville don't let other people trade away their interests without a fight. We expect them once again to rise to the challenge, and we urge local, state, and federal elected officials to align themselves with their cause by getting involved in the pending DEP consideration of this onerous proposal. A review of the legislation that has stripped municipalities of their rights to conduct their own land-use and environmental reviews of such projects is also in order.

We might conclude at this point that nothing is ever easy in Hawleyville. Fortunately, Hawleyville has a lot of capable defenders who don't care much about what's easy. They do care deeply, however, about what's right.

Newtown Bee Publisher
6/4/2009
Used with permission of The Newtown Bee