Lyddy Asks For HRR Hearing, Moratorium

Newtown’s freshman State Representative Christopher Lyddy is the latest official weighing in on the matter of the Housatonic Railroad’s proposal to greatly expand its solid waste transfer capacity in Hawleyville. The railroad currently is seeking permission from the state Department of Environmental Protection to upgrade its current handling capacity of 450 tons of materials daily, to 2,000 tons a day.

The railroad also proposes expanding the scope of materials it may handle to include some contaminated materials, as well as physical structures on the site to accommodate the proposed increase in materials handling.

On July 14, Mr Lyddy sent a letter to Robert Isner, director of the DEP Waste Management’s Waste Engineering and Enforcement Division requesting the agency urge the Housatonic Railroad Company to hold a public hearing on their permit application for the expansion at 30 Hawleyville Road.

“In addition to the administrative hearing and public comment period scheduled to take place after a tentative determination is made, it is imperative the Housatonic Railroad hears the feedback from local residents in the form of a public hearing,” Mr Lyddy wrote.

The next day he dispatched a letter to Gabrielle Frigon, a DEP supervising sanitary engineer requesting a moratorium be placed on any expansion activities at the site until a permitting decision is granted.

“It has come to my attention that the Housatonic Railroad Company has already demolished part of the existing structure at the site and has started work in preparation for the proposed site expansion,” Mr Lyddy wrote. “It was also reported to me by town officials that (the railroad) is currently taking C&D material that in the past has gone to the AWD transfer station...in Danbury.

“This is extremely troublesome for the Newtown Community, and I request your (DEP) designee look into this situation as soon as possible,” Mr Lyddy added.