Housatonic Railroad Plans Affected—

Legislature Overrides Veto Of Solid Waste Law

By Andrew Gorosko

Members of the General Assembly this week unanimously overrode Governor M. Jodi Rell’s recent veto of environmental protection legislation concerning solid waste handling that occurs near aquifers, which are underground sources of drinking water.

The veto override means that it will now be more difficult for the Housatonic Railroad Company to accomplish its controversial proposed solid waste expansion project at its 13.3-acre Hawleyville rail terminal at 30 Hawleyville Road (Route 25).

Both the State Senate and State House of Representatives on June 21 unanimously overrode Gov Rell’s June 8 veto, with 11 members of the House not voting on the override.

In effect, the solid waste legislation, which was approved by the General Assembly in early May, now becomes law, making it more difficult for the railroad to achieve its waste expansion project.

The intent of the legislation is “environmental protection,” according to State Representative Christopher Lyddy, who sponsored the legislation with State Senator John McKinney.

“Today, the voices of Newtown residents prevailed as the House and the Senate voted to override the governor’s veto of a bill targeted to ensure our local aquifers are protected, and that the [waste] transfer station in Hawleyville adheres to the strictest environmental standards. We must continue to partner with business to ensure they are responsive to the values of our residents, the state of our environment, and the preservation of our community’s resources,” Rep Lyddy said in a statement.

In a joint statement on the veto override, Rep Lyddy and Sen McKinney said the legislation seeks to protect wetlands and aquifers from pollution due to the unnecessary expansion of the Housatonic Railroad Company’s solid waste transfer terminal, which sits above an aquifer.

Sen McKinney said that the legislation is geared to protect Hawleyville from increased truck traffic, increased noise, and pollution.

The legislation, which has taken effect, seeks to prevent the expansion of solid waste handling facilities that lie within 1,000 feet of a “primary aquifer” or a “secondary aquifer,” until and unless there exists a need for such additional solid waste handling capacity as specified by the state’s Solid Waste Management Plan, according to the legislators.

The railroad property sits atop an aquifer, about 800 acres of which lie within the Hawleyville section of town, with the large majority of that aquifer being located outside of Newtown.

Through an application filed more than one year ago, the railroad is seeking state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) approval to increase the range of solid waste and also expand the tonnage of solid waste that it handles at its terminal. The railroad proposes significantly increasing its transfer of solid waste from heavy trucks onto railcars for shipment by rail for disposal at out-of-state landfills.

The DEP is reviewing the health and safety aspects of the waste expansion proposal. The DEP is expected to conduct a future public hearing on the pending proposal.

The railroad’s waste expansion proposal has drawn stiff opposition from town officials and the citizens group known as Hawleyville Environmental Advocacy Team (HEAT), whose concerns include the potential for surface water pollution and groundwater pollution due to expanded waste operations. Other issues include quality-of-life matters, such as increased truck traffic, increased noise, and additional blowing dust in the area.

In practical terms, the legislation would provide the DEP with added review powers through which it would balance the regional need for additional waste handling capacity against the risk to natural resources posed by such an expanded capacity.

In vetoing the legislation earlier this month, Gov Rell, in part noted that the state has no statutory definitions concerning “primary aquifers” or “secondary aquifers,” as mentioned in the legislation.

The language of the legislation would cause delays in pending solid waste applications and in business growth opportunities for as long as nine months, while terminology would have been developed to define “aquifers” as described in the legislation, according to the governor.

DEP Official

Robert Isner, DEP’s director of waste engineering and enforcement, said, “We’re in the process of assessing the language” of the legislation to gauge what effect the new law will have the DEP’s review of applicable solid waste applications.

“We will have to determine and interpret the proper implementation of the legislation,” Mr Isner said.

“We’re reviewing the public act…It’s certainly a new issue that needs to be assessed,” he said.

The requirement for affected solid waste applicants to provide additional information on their proposals is both substantive and procedural, he said.

The need for additional information most likely would protract the DEP’s review of the Housatonic Railroad’s solid waste expansion proposal.

Rob Sibley, town director of planning and land use, said that the additional land use review of solid waste handling applications that would be required by the new law is “welcome.”

Mr Sibley said its is unclear whether the new state law would have any effect on the local wetlands review of the project.

Through the legislation, Rep Lyddy and Sen McKinney sought to increase the standards for the review of projects in environmentally sensitive areas, Mr Sibley said. “I’m pleased that we have another layer of review,” Mr Sibley said.

Edward Rodriguez, the railroad’s vice president and general counsel, said the new legislation will make the DEP’s environmental review of such projects more difficult.

“I’m disappointed,” Mr Rodriguez said of the General Assembly’s override of the governor’s veto.

Mr Rodriguez said that the solid waste legislation was positioned as an amendment to a popular piece of legislation pertaining to Long Island Sound. The solid waste aspects of that legislation amounted to a “bad amendment,” he said.

“We’re still reviewing it,” Mr Rodriguez said of the railroad’s study of the new law on solid waste handling. He said he does not know the ultimate effect of the solid waste legislation.

He added he does not know what steps the railroad would take, if any, in terms of the new law, adding that other solid waste firms also would be affected by the legislation.

Mr Rodriguez said the railroad has not fully analyzed or evaluated the new law’s effects on its solid waste application that is pending before the DEP. He said he does not expect that the new law creates an insurmountable obstacle for the railroad’s project.

The legislative amendment that addressed solid waste handling was an inappropriate measure because it singled out the railroad for adverse special treatment, he said. The new law interferes with DEP’s functioning, he added.

More Information

In a June 14 letter to Colin Pease, the railroad’s vice president for special projects, Calin Tanovici, a DEP sanitary engineer, explains that the DEP needs more information to adequately review the railroad’s proposed expansion of its solid waste handling at the rail terminal.

Mr Tanovici requests additional information concerning: the handling of solid waste that contains asbestos; the sources of the waste handled at the terminal; on-site waste processing and waste storage; the days and hours of operation; the waste processing equipment that would be used; the regulation of the railroad’s handling of construction/demolition debris; a concise description of the railroad’s waste handling activities; the need to revise technical drawings; earthen filling that has occurred on the northern end of the railroad property; natural diversity issues; stormwater discharges from the site; wastewater discharges from the site; the effects of proposed construction on nearby wetlands, and the proximity of existing waste handling activity to nearby wetlands, among various other issues.

Mr Rodriguez said the railroad will be responding to the DEP’s request for more information on the solid waste proposal. It is the DEP’s role to gather information about permit applications, he said.