Unscheduled Visit—

Regulators Inspect Railroad Site

Proposed For Waste Expansion

By Andrew Gorosko

At an unscheduled inspection of the Housatonic Railroad Company’s Hawleyville rail terminal on July 16, four state officials and one town official probed the site where the railroad wants to expand its solid waste handling operation.

The railroad wants to more than quadruple the amount of solid waste that it transfers from heavy trucks onto railcars for shipment for disposal at out-of-state landfills. It also wants to broaden the range of solid waste that it handles. The railroad proposes creating new facilities for solid waste handling on the northern five acres of its 13.3-acre site at 30 Hawleyville Road.

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

In a July 22 report, Bethany McWade, a state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) environmental analyst, writes that she, two DEP sanitary engineers, a state Department of Public Health (DPH) inspector, and George Benson, who heads the Newtown’s land use agency, inspected the site on July 16.

“The DEP received numerous complaints and concerns about the recent permit application received from the Housatonic Railroad Company, Inc, submitted in April 2009, to expand current solid waste operations at the site. Opposition of expansion has been expressed by local citizen groups, local officials, and government representatives. In July 2007, the Town of Newtown issued a wetlands violation to the existing facility handling commodities and solid waste for allegedly filling wetlands and regulated wetland areas. Residents and officials are concerned about the potential for soil and water contamination from the filling of wetland areas, expansion of the site, and the proposed handling of ash, contaminated soil, sludge, and asbestos,” Ms McWade wrote in her report to Frank P. Gagliardo, a DEP supervising environmental analyst.

The railroad is seeking DEP permission to increase its solid waste handling from 450 tons daily to 2,000 tons daily. Until now, the solid waste shipped out by rail has largely been construction/demolition debris. In the permit application now 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.

In her report, Ms McWade notes that there was a significant amount of dust at the rail terminal during the midday inspection tour before a storm passed through the area.

The state inspectors spoke to two employees of Strategic Disposal, LLC, and one employee of Shepaug Distribution Services, LLC, also known as Shepaug Reload, during their inspection tour. Shepaug Reload is a lumber distribution facility operated by the railroad.

No representatives of the railroad or Newtown Transload, LLC, were present. Newtown Transload would operate the expanded waste handling operation for the railroad.

Strategic Disposal currently uses a 5,400-square-foot covered area for its solid waste handling at the site.

While at the site, Ms McWade noticed that there was about 125 cubic yards of land-clearing debris present.

“During the time of inspection, material was stored outside of the existing (5,400-square-foot) semi-enclosed area dedicated to solid waste operations. Approximately 25 percent of waste observed in the tipping area during the time of the inspection consisted of recyclables and MSW (municipal solid waste, more commonly known as household garbage). This 25 percent included, but was not limited to, cardboard, packaging materials such as styrofoam, plastics…discarded mailers and manuals, and plastic garbage bags,” she wrote.

“Mr (Rick) Kowaleski informed us that Strategic Disposal, LLC, is currently not handling asbestos, but did indicate that in the future they would like to handle non-friable asbestos sorted from (construction/ demolition) waste and asbestos-containing materials, such as floor tiles and roofing shingles,” she added.

DPH and DEP officials then explained the various strict rules concerning the handling of asbestos. The DPH inspector then requested that Strategic Disposal provide the state with a detailed description of the firm’s past asbestos-handling activities.

The state inspectors were told that they could obtain various records pertaining to the railroad’s past waste handling activities from the railroad itself. The two Strategic Disposal employees with whom the inspectors spoke told the state inspectors that they had worked for the waste disposal firm for less than a month, according to Ms McWade’s report.

 The waste materials to be received at the proposed expanded solid waste handling plant would include steel, metals, plastic, cardboard, tires, construction/demolition debris, paper, clean wood, and other substances, Mr Kowaleski told the state inspectors. Lakin Tire East, Inc, of West Haven would be used for tire disposal.

Also, Ms McWade commented on the wetlands issues pertaining to the railroad site.

“Approximately one to two acres of land, which closely borders and appears to encroach upon wetlands, has been filled with material appearing to be clean fill with…amounts of rebar and scrap metal mixed in...It appears that at least one area of wetlands located in the center of the proposed expansion area…has already been filled,” she wrote.

A DEP inspector explained to Mr Kowaleski that the railroad cannot start construction of the proposed new facilities at the site until the railroad receives required permits for an expanded waste handling operation from the DEP.

At a July 15 Legislative Council session, council members, as well as residents concerned about the environmental implications of expanded waste handling at the rail terminal, discussed at length the railroad seeking a DEP permit for the solid waste expansion project.

The council later unanimously authorized the town to pursue court action to stop the railroad from expanding and intensifying its waste handling operations in Hawleyville.