Don't Dump On Us
Donât Dump On Us
To the Editor:
Itâs a garbage dump. A five-million-pounds-of-garbage-a-day garbage dump. This is what Monroe First Selectman Steve Vavrek and his Republican party believe Monroe citizens deserve to live next to. Finally, the truth is out. All this deceit you are hearing about a ârecycling centerâ is just pure spin. It is a garbage dump.
 Steve Vavrek is working hard to give a garbage hauling company the legal right to truck into Monroe five million pounds of garbage a day, 35 million pounds of garbage a week. The owner of this garbage company, Guy Mazzola of New Canaan, states that he âexpectsâ to get a legal permit to run 130 dump trucks a day through Monroe.
Despite the known environmental toxic contamination threats to both human health and the environment, Monroe and Newtown residents who live directly next door to, and in the immediate neighborhood of, this proposed garbage dump were given absolutely no notice that Vavrek and his government had been plotting to bring a garbage dump of this enormous magnitude to their neighborhood, and into our town.
Threats to human health directly related to garbage sites include contaminated toxic run-off water into water wells, contaminating both drinking water and soil, accumulated amounts of potentially deadly bacteria including e-coli and salmonella, disease-carrying rat infestation, deadly human insect-borne diseases, and air pollution including dramatically increased triggers for asthma and allergies, and the stench of odor volatiles emanating from 140 million pounds of new garbage trucked into Monroe each month.
Other known threats to human health from large quantities of toxic materials include the leaching directly into the surrounding environment of chemicals, toxins, poisons, and pollutants that contain known deadly contaminants including PCBs, heavy metals, lead, dioxins, and asbestos.
Toxic contaminants in human environments are known to have carcinogenic and mutagenic effects on human health. These toxins are currently linked to a full spectrum of cancers and poisonings of human physical systems, including neurological, reproductive, developmental, and immunological, affecting human health in every way, and potentially resulting in death (US Environmental Protection Agency).
But thatâs not deterring Vavrek in the slightest. The agreed-upon site of this garbage dump is directly in a residential zoned neighborhood consisting of thousands of children, families, and the elderly.
The site of this massive garbage dump is not currently zoned to accommodate this type of health threatening industry, so part of their prearranged deal is to change the zoning so it will be legal for this company to destroy our health and ruin our lives.
It is a plot of incalculable greed to place a garbage dump in an environmentally sensitive area that includes protected wetlands, water wells, humans, houses, recreational water sports, wildlife, agriculture, and aquaculture.
Once this monster is opened, itâs opened for good. You will never get it closed. Please oppose this dump. Write letters of opposition to Monroe Planning & Zoning Chairman Richard Zini. There are actions we can take before it is too late. Call 203-261-5536 to help.
Tess Foley
211 Old Zoar Road, Monroe                                           April 19, 2011