Senator’s Staff Reviews Railroad Waste Expansion Proposal

By Andrew Gorosko

A spokesman for US Senator Christopher Dodd said this week that the senator’s staff is working with town officials to show how under current federal law the town could seek to regulate the Housatonic Railroad Company’s controversial proposal to expand its solid waste handling at its Hawleyville rail terminal at 30 Hawleyville Road (Route 25).

“Senator Dodd understands the concerns that have been raised about this project. His staff has been working closely with Newtown officials to help them determine what they can do to regulate the project under current federal law. The senator and his staff will continue to work with local and federal officials to address these concerns,” Bryan DeAngelis, a spokesman for Sen Dodd, said in an August 5 statement.

Mr DeAngelis’s remarks come following a July 30 conference telephone call in which town Director of Planning and Land Use George Benson and resident Gary Fetzer spoke to Sen Dodd’s staff members on the railroad waste handling issue. Mr Fetzer is the Democratic candidate for first selectmen in the November 3 elections.

Mr Benson said that the conference call was held to inform the senator’s staff about various issues surrounding the railroad’s proposed expansion of its solid waste handling.

“I thought it was a very productive conversation in a number of ways,” said Mr Fetzer. Sen Dodd’s staff members plan to review the railroad’s waste expansion proposal in terms of the railroad’s compliance with local land use regulations, Mr Fetzer said.

“I was very happy with the progress we made,” he said, terming the conference call “a great conversation.”

Town officials concerned about the implications of the railroad’s proposed expansion of its solid waste handling have also raised issues about the matter with the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, US Representative Christopher Murphy, State Representative Christopher Lyddy, the Housatonic Valley Council of Elected Officials, and the Housatonic Resources Recovery Authority, among others.

The town is formally opposing the railroad’s proposal to expand of its solid waste handling.

Under the provisions of the federal Clean Railroads Act of 2008, the DEP was granted the authority to regulate the public health and public safety aspects of the railroad’s waste expansion proposal. Preceding that law, only the federal government regulated railroads.

On July 16, inspectors for the DEP and the state Department of Health Services (DHS) made an unscheduled tour of the railroad site for which the railroad is seeking DEP permit approval to expand its solid waste handling.

The railroad is seeking DEP permission to increase its solid waste handling from 450 tons daily to 2,000 tons daily. The railroad transfers solid waste from heavy trucks onto railcars at its rail terminal for shipment for disposal at out-of-state landfills.

Until now, the solid waste shipped out by rail has largely been construction/demolition debris. In the permit application under review by the DEP, the railroad seeks to also handle contaminated soils, used casting sand, coal fly ash, dredge spoils, ash from resource recovery plants, sludge ash, treated woods, and scrap tires in the form of crumbed tires, shredded tires, and whole tires. The railroad’s DEP permit application indicates that it wants permission to operate the waste transfer station seven days a week, 24 hours a day.

The waste expansion proposal has encountered stiff opposition from nearby residents and local government officials who say that the expansion would pose environmental hazards, increase heavy truck traffic in the area, and damage Hawleyville Center’s character.

The town has informed the railroad that based on an inspection of its 13.3-acre site, the railroad’s activities violate the town’s wetlands regulations. (See related story.)

“These activities include but are not limited to depositing material in wetlands areas, clearing wetlands, and causing sediment to discharge into wetlands,” wrote Rob Sibley, the town’s deputy director of planning and land use, in a July 24 certified letter to Edward Rodriguez, the railroad’s general counsel. The town wants the railroad to submit a wetlands permit application.

It is the second time the town has informed the railroad of wetlands violations at the railroad property. In June 2007, Mr Sibley informed the railroad that it violated town wetlands rules.