Let’s Not Waste

Hawleyville

To the Editor:

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