Railroad Responds To Wetlands Violation Notice

By Andrew Gorosko

Amid controversy over the Housatonic Railroad Company’s proposal to expand its solid waste handling at its Hawleyville rail terminal, the railroad has responded to the town’s charge that the railroad’s activities at its 13.3-acre site at 30 Hawleyville Road (Route 25) violate the town wetlands regulations.

In an August 4 letter to Rob Sibley, the town deputy director of planning and land use, Edward Rodriguez, the railroad’s general counsel, states that the firm has hired a biologist and other professionals to prepare a map of the section of the railroad property covered by the town’s notice of wetlands violations.

“We expect to submit detailed information to your office which will include a map showing wetland delineation and a description of measures that have been taken, or that are ongoing, to protect wetland resources… We look forward to working with you in the future to further protect wetland resources,” Mr Rodriguez wrote.

“We will be in further contact with you during the course of this review and we will endeavor to complete this work as soon as reasonably practicable, but no later than August 31, 2009. We respectfully request that you wait to receive this submission before determining what course of action you wish to take in this matter,” Mr Rodriguez added.

“Housatonic Railroad is committed to the protection of wetland resources and to working with your office to address any concerns that you have,” he wrote.

In a July 24 letter to Mr Rodriguez, Mr Sibley had described the wetlands violations. “These activities include but are not limited to depositing material in wetlands areas, clearing wetlands, and causing sediment to discharge into wetlands,” Mr Sibley wrote. The railroad received the certified letter of violation on July 27.

Town and railroad officials held a July 28 meeting to discuss the wetlands issues.

Mr Sibley said this week he inspected the railroad site on August 4. The railroad has installed some siltation fencing and also has placed some hay at the site in seeking to control erosion and sedimentation there, he said. 

The town’s notifying the railroad of the wetlands violations comes amid public controversy over the railroad’s proposal to significantly expand the tonnage and also increase the range of solid waste material that it transfers from heavy trucks onto railcars at its Hawleyville rail terminal for shipment for disposal at out-of-state landfills.

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

Until Congress approved the Clean Railroads Act of 2008, the federal government had been the only regulator of railroad activities. Through that federal law, the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) now has regulatory power over the public health and safety aspects of the railroad’s solid waste handling expansion proposal.

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.

The waste expansion proposal has met with 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.