Railroad Submits Data To DEP On Waste Expansion Proposal

By Andrew Gorosko

The Housatonic Railroad Company’s detailed, technical response to a state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) notice that the railroad had provided insufficient information to the DEP in its initial application to expand its solid waste handling at its Hawleyville rail terminal does not alter the town’s opposition to the railroad’s solid waste expansion proposal, according to a town land use official.

George Benson, director of planning and land use, said that although the railroad has provided detailed information to the DEP on technical questions about the controversial solid waste expansion proposal, the town still opposes the railroad’s proposal to increase the amount and to increase the types of solid waste that it transfers from heavy trucks onto railcars for rail shipment for disposal at out-of-state landfills.

Town government opposition and a citizens group’s opposition to the railroad waste expansion proposal has focused on several issues, including the potential for surface water and groundwater pollution posed by expanded waste handling at the 30 Hawleyville Road site. Other issues include increased truck traffic, increased noise, and more blowing dust in the area due to expanded industrial operations.

In October, the DEP issued a “notice of insufficiency” to the railroad, thoroughly describing a long list of shortcomings in the railroad’s DEP permit application to expand its solid waste handling. The numerous deficiencies in the railroad’s permit application are listed in an October 8 letter from Diane Duva, the assistant director of the waste engineering and enforcement division of the DEP’s bureau of materials management and compliance assurance, to Colin Pease, the railroad’s vice president for special projects.

The DEP sought additional information from the railroad in order to conduct a complete technical review of the proposal.

When Congress approved the Clean Railroads Act of 2008, it required that the health and safety aspects of solid waste handling by railroads be subject to regulation by the state DEP. Previously, railroads had been subject only to federal regulation. The railroad’s application marks the first time that the DEP has reviewed such a waste handling proposal under the terms of the Clean Railroads Act. The DEP is expected to conduct a public hearing on the railroad’s waste expansion proposal sometime in 2010.

The town’s Inland Wetlands Commission (IWC) has been reviewing the wetlands protection aspects of railroad’s waste expansion proposal. An IWC public hearing on the matter was scheduled for December 9. (See related story.)

After reviewing the railroad’s response to the DEP’s request for more information on its solid waste handling application, Mr Benson raised questions about several issues.

Those questions largely concern the range of solid waste materials that the railroad wants to handle at its truck-to-rail transfer facility.

Mr Benson asked whether the railroad is seeking to further broaden the types of solid waste that it would handle at its Hawleyville terminal, as well as seeking to reduce the range of solid waste materials over which the DEP would have jurisdiction.

To address the many issues that the DEP raised over insufficient information provided by the railroad in its April application, the railroad hired a consulting firm known as HRP Associates, Inc, of Farmington and Stratford to organize its formal response to the DEP. The firm specializes in environmental issues, civil engineering, and hydrogeology.

DEP concerns about the initial railroad application included deficiencies in the areas of: the completeness and accuracy of the application form; the consistency of the application; business information; the adequacy of technical drawings; an operations and management plan for the facility; compliance with the federal 2008 Clean Railroads Act; the consistency of the executive summary of the application; and the need for a stormwater discharge permit for industrial activity.

In its response, HRP Associates addresses those concerns on a point-by-point basis.

The Hawleyville Environmental Advocacy Team (HEAT), an ad hoc citizens group opposed to the railroad’s waste handling expansion proposal, has raised a range of concerns about the railroad’s response to the DEP request for more information on its waste expansion project.

A firm by the name of Newtown Transload, LLC, would conduct expanded waste handling operations for the railroad.