Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection officials have already tentatively approved a permit for a waste processing plant on the Quinnipiac River to start accepting all household waste. New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker and environmental advocates told officials at a Zoom meeting on Tuesday that the state should clean up the area, instead.
All American Waste already has a permit to accept some municipal waste and recycling. Environmentalists said the area does not need any more household waste because it already handles more waste than much of the state.
“The community doesn’t want it, the city doesn’t want it, and it’s a horrible idea environmentally. This is right on the Quinnipiac River,” Roger Reynolds, senior legal counsel for the environmental organization Save the Sound, told Hearts Connecticut Media. “This [waste] really should be composted and recycled instead of dumped on the most environmentally overburdened communities in the state.”
An attorney who represents the company that owns All American Waste, Edward Spinella, said no one had ever filed a complaint about the waste plant with the city until this summer. He said the majority of waste generated in New Haven goes to Bridgeport.
Mayor Elicker disagreed.
“Low-income neighborhoods historically have had to bear the burden of pollution,” said Elicker. “This is true here, in a neighborhood where the per capita income is less than $18,000 per year, and residents already live within close proximity to salt storage piles, construction staging yards, petroleum tank farms, high voltage transmission lines and this facility.”
Public comments on the permit change will be accepted by DEEP through Jan. 8th, 2020.