NHEJN seeks to improve our urban environment and protect the quality of life of the New Haven community. Our goals are to:

• Foster awareness of environmental justice issues
  
• Support and help to create fair and responsible public policy on environmental issues
  
• Promote activities that safeguard the health of New Haven residents
  
• Promote remediation measures for our soil, water, and air
  
• Promote energy conservation and alternative forms of energy
  

General Meeting

When: Second Wednesday of each month, 6 - 8 p.m.
Where: High School in the Community (175 Water Street, New Haven, CT), 2nd Floor, Media Center
Pizza and Juice provided

Contact Information

To learn more about the projects we are working on, or to get involved, please email our Chair, Lynne Bonnett, at nhejn@snet.net

Current Projects

Regionalization of the Water Pollution Control Authority: The city of New Haven has proposed regionalization of the New Haven Water Pollution Authority. This complex issue has important environmental justice implications. For example, if New Haven were to lose control of decisions regarding plant expansion, the people of New Haven would not be able to protect themselves from increases in toxic emissions. In addition, there could be economic disadvantages to urban ratepayers arising from regionalization. Click here to see the Advocate article on this issue.

Air Pollution Studies and Education: Air pollution has been linked to higher rates of asthma and asthma rates for residents of New Haven are four times the national average. NHEJN aims to further our understanding of this problem.

Air Pollution from Power Generation: Despite being an urban area with very high asthma rates among residents, New Haven produces more power than it uses. In addition, several "grandfathered" facilities have been using #6 fuel oil, the dirtiest type available.

Air Pollution from Vehicle Emissions: Given that New Haven is located at the intersection of two major freeways, a train line, and a shipping line (because it is a port city), vehicle emissions are a major contributor to air pollution in the city.

Environmental Justice Legislation: Connecticut's urban areas bear a disproportionate burden of the state's environmental pollution, yet current state law does not require remediation of those areas. We have been working with CCEJ to change this.

Community Representatives of Environmental Justice on City Boards: NHEJN has developed a proposal to expand the city's Environmental Advisory Council to represent different city neighborhoods.

Alternative Energy Information: Spread information about alternative energy providers to those who might otherwise be left uninformed about their chance to stop supporting local polluting energy sources.

Past Projects

Connecticut Coalition for Environmental Justice (CCEJ)
Links to Other Sites

Project Descriptions
Regionalization of the Water Pollution Control Authority

• Position Statement:

  New Haven Environmental Justice Network (NHEJN) supports with reservations the current Regionalization Plan for the Water Pollution Control Authority (WPCA). NHEJN has successfully negotiated with the City of New Haven to introduce four important improvements to the Regional WPCA Plan:

  1) an Environmental Stakeholder to serve as a voting member of the the GNHWPCA Board,

  2) an independent Environmental Fund, created with one million dollars from the sale of the WPCA, to support environmental justice projects and technological innovation at the GNHWPCA,

  3) increased means of accountability and public input to the GNHWPCA, and,

  4) a commitment by the GNHWPCA to support innovative, environmentally friendly technologies in its operations.

  NHEJN's goals of ensuring majority representation to the most heavily impacted community (New Haven) and securing a commitment to a reduction and eventual elimination of sludge incineration are not met in the current proposal. A compromise in the form of super majority vote required for new service agreements and constraints on the process of adding municipalities to the region in the future may address these concerns. We remain strongly committed to the phase out of all sludge incineration and to the implementation of point-source control of pollutants. NHEJN believes that regionalization can be used to meet environmental justice goals, and we look forward to working in the future with the City and the Regionalized Authority to see these goals come to fruition.

  
  

Air Pollution Studies and Education

• Goal: To investigate the sources of air pollution in New Haven and their relative health impacts and to educate city residents about the issue.
  
• Description:Several of Connecticut's most polluting industries (including one of the sooty six power plants) are located in New Haven, and vehicle emissions in New Haven are high because of our location at the juncture of two large freeways, a train line, and a seaport. In addition, we are downwind of the Midwest and receive air pollution from their power plants. These factors combine to make New Haven county one of the most polluted in the country, and we were found to be out of compliance with federal fine particulate standards in 2004. This is a major health problem. Air pollution has been linked to higher rates of asthma, especially in children and asthma rates for residents of New Haven are four times the national average. City residents, especially parents, are concerned about respiratory diseases, but are often unaware of the causes or how to prevent them.
  
• Progress:Madeleine Weil gave a presentation on the New Haven hazardous air pollutants inventory project, which will be used by the Community Clean Air Initiative of the City of New Haven in conjunction with the EPA to develop reduction strategies for different pollutants based on their health effects. This research estimates presence of chemicals due to a variety of sources and weighs these based on their health effects to focus efforts on the most dangerous sources of pollution. This presentation drew attention to the role of diesel emissions in New Haven. Derek Murrow from Environment Northeast (ENE) presented information about diesel monitoring in New Haven conducted in early June, and was interested in suggestions for effectively using that data to lobby for change at a local and state level. In terms of community education, four asthma training workshops have been offered, led by Dr. Mark Mitchell of Connecticut Coalition for Environmental Justice. We had no outside attendance at the first three, perhaps because they weren't well advertised. The fourth was held at Farnam Courts, where we learned that residents were more concerned about the I-91 barrier.
  

Air Pollution from Power Generation

• Goals: To limit the air pollution in New Haven by preventing an increase in power generation (whether via the opening of new facilities or the expansion of existing ones) and by encouraging facilities to stop using #6 fuel oil.
  
• Progress: English Station was refused a permit by the DEP to reopen as a power generating facility. Commissioner, Art Rocque declared the power plant to be a health risk to Fair Haven residents if it re-opened. Yale-New Haven Hospital has also agreed to stop using #6 fuel oil. NHEJN is now lobbying St. Raphael's Hospital as well as Simkins to stop using #6 fuel oil.
  

Air Pollution from Vehicle Emissions

• Goals: To limit the air pollution in New Haven by minimizing vehicle emissions.
  
• Description: NHEJN is a member of the Clean Car Alliance and supports the conversion of city and school buses to cleaner technologies.
  
• Progress: The City of New Haven agreed to convert all school buses to a new technology that reduces emissions by about fifty percent.
  

Environmental Justice Legislation

• Goal: Get state to enact laws to prevent environmental injustice.
  
• Description: Connecticut's urban areas bear a disproportionate burden of the state’s environmental pollution. Yet current state law does not require remediation of those areas, and regulatory agencies need not consider the disproportionate impact when evaluating a permit application to operate polluting facilities. For example, the Department of Environmental Protection is considering an application for reopening English Station, a dirty power plant in the Fair Haven neighborhood. Under current law, DEP need not consider the fact that the city already has one of the state’s sooty six power plants nor the city's disproportionately high rates of asthma. We have been working with Connecticut Coalition for Environmental Justice to change this.
  
• Progress: Legislation has been proposed and came close to passage in the House of Representatives in the last session. Unfortunately, despite broad support, it did not make it through in the short session.
  

Community Representatives of Environmental Justice on City Boards

• Goal: Environmental justice is not always considered by the city when developing plans or approving permits. To encourage consideration of EJ issues, a presence of individuals who are conscious of EJ issues on city boards is desirable. In addition, the presence of NHEJN members on the boards may allow us to obtain information about pertinent issues at an earlier stage when we are more able to influence the outcome of events.
  
• Description: There are several different boards where a presence would be desirable: the environmental advisory council, the zoning commission, and the planning board. The first is purely advisory and does not have decision-making power. However, it can still raise awareness regarding the EJ implications of various proposals and participation on this board could provide us with earlier information regarding potential issues of interest. We have proposed an expansion of this board to include more community representation. The zoning and planning boards are both quite powerful and presence on these boards could actually give us direct influence on city development.
  
• Progress: Two members of NHEJN have been appointed to the environmental advisory council (Lynne Bonnet and John Dixon), and one of our members has recently been appointed to the zoning commission (Lee Cruz).
  

Alternative Energy Information

• Goal: Educate city residents about alternative energy options
  
• Description: Deregulation of state utilities has made it possible for green-energy providers to enter the Connecticut market. We hope to encourage this by educating New Haven residents about alternative energy and creating a demand for cleaner energy.
  
• Progress: We have had a speaker and booth at CT Energy Co-operative's Energy Fair and will be co-sponsoring a booth at New Haven's Festival of Arts & Ideas this June, providing education about alternative energy.
  

Past Projects

Farnam Courts Barrier

• Goal: To help the Farnam Courts Tenants Association organize and lobby for a sound barrier between I-91 and their housing project. This is an example of a more general aim of NHEJN to train community groups to advocate for themselves.
  
• Description: Farnam Courts is a housing project located adjacent to I-91. Residents are concerned about the lack of a highway barrier which creates a health and safety risk. The sound level keeps people up at night and exhaust fumes and dust pollute the air.
  
• Progress: We have held four "train-the-trainer" workshops with members of Farnam Court Tenants Association on how to organize (topics included identifying goals, decision makers, methods of reaching them, formulating a message). Attendance ranged about 12 people per workshop. Residents circulated a petition to the Dept. of Transportation; they wrote letters to the Mayor and various representatives. In August 2004, a meeting was held that was attended by concerned residents of Farnam Court, members of CCEJ, the state Department of Transportation Commissioner Stephen Korta II, state senators Toni Harp and Martin M. Looney, Alderman of Wooster Square Michael Smart, and the chairwoman of the South Central Region Council of Government, Judy Gott.

  Due to the efforts of NHEJN and of the Farnam Courts Environmental Justice Council, the sound barrier has been build as part of Phase E of the Q-bridge expansion project. This is a great victory for all Farnam Courts residents!
  

• Goal: Minimizing the processing of solid wastes in New Haven.
  
• Description:Solid waste facilities increase local air pollution because wastes must be shipped to the facilities, and sometimes by-products must be shipped away. If waterways are used, there is risk of water pollution due both to spillage and to shipping traffic. Finally, if incineration is involved, this can release toxins into the air. New Haven recently had a slew of proposals for new solid waste transfer or processing facilities.
  
• Progress: NHEJN organized a very successful community-wide forum that had a strong turnout. In addition, the Advocate ran a cover story on the issue. Two facilities, Sani-Marine and Waterfront Enterprises, were prevented from opening and the mayor has declared a moratorium on the consideration of proposals for new solid waste facilities.
  
  

• Goal: Prevent opening of dirty power plant in Fair Haven neighborhood.
  
• Description: ES is located on an island at the mouth of the Mill River on Grand Avenue in the Fair Haven neighborhood of New Haven. Originally owned by United Illuminating Company (UI), which also operated the Harbor Station plant (one of the "filthy five"), ES was transferred to Quinnipiac Energy Corporation (QE), a company newly organized by former UI executives. ES had been closed since 1992 because it was obsolete and inefficient. QE plans to reopen the plant using oil, a highly polluting fuel (only coal is dirtier!). They have applied for a permit to operate the plant during peak demand periods, a time when air pollution is at its worst, and eventually plan to operate the plant at full capacity. Operating ES would significantly increase the emission of nitrogen oxides, sulfur oxides, and particulates, all of which have detrimental effects on human health. The additional pollution generated by ES cannot be justified by New Haven's or even Connecticut's energy needs. The city's existing plant already exports power to other parts of the state, and pipeline is currently being built from New Haven to Long Island (a suburb of NY city) to export power there. The extra energy provided by ES would thus primarily benefit people in the suburbs (both in CT and NY), lowering their utility bills at the expense of the health of city residents.
  
• Progress: NHEJN organized a strong movement of neighborhood opposition to the proposed re-opening of English Station power plant in Fair Haven. It was a great victory when the DEP refused English Station's application for a permit to reopen as a powerplant.
  

• Goal: Increase awareness of environmental injustice.
  
• Description: Guided bus-tours were held of toxic sites located in Fair Haven, a low-income neighborhood with a large black and Latino population. Stops included two power-plants, a garbage transfer station, a river-side scrap-metal dump, and a tire-dump in a wetland area. Tours were led by Dr. Mark Mitchell of the Connecticut Coalition for Environmental Justice, and Lee Cruz.
  
  

• Goal: Draw media attention to the tire pond and to our group.
  
• Description: Faricelli's tire pond is an illegal tire dump in the wetlands of the Quinnipiac River. Despite fines and court injunctions from DEP and local municipalities, Faricelli operated the dump and continued to accept tires for almost 20 years.
  
• Progress: NHEJN and Sierra Club nominated the dump for a Toxic Action Center "Dirty Dozen Award". The tire pond won a place among the Dirty Dozen, and we got a headline in the paper (the tire pond was one of the stops on our Toxic Tour). The Tire Pond has now been closed down.
  

• Goal: Get state to enact laws to require the largest and dirtiest power plants to meet modern emissions standards without using pollution credit trading.
  
• Description: New Haven has the largest polluting power plant in the State of Connecticut. It is one of the six largest plants that are exempt from the current pollution standards (i.e. Sooty Six) because they were grandfathered in when the standards were enacted in 1977. Oftentimes when power plants are required to reduce emissions, rather than actually reducing emissions on-site the state allows them the option of purchasing pollution credits from a different facility that has reduced its emissions more than the law requires. This is known as pollution credit trading. NHEJN has been working with the Connecticut Coalition for Clean Air to get the Sooty Six power plants to reduce sulfur oxides to current standards on site without using pollution credit trading.
  
• Progress: After five years of effort, this proposal was passed and signed into law.
  

• Goal: Reduce asthma and respiratory illness in children resulting from diesel school bus emissions.
  
• Description: Recent scientific evidence shows that diesel emissions are much more harmful to people than previously thought. This is especially true in children. Over the last ten years, school buses in Connecticut have switched from gasoline-powered engines to diesel engines. Diesel vehicles are prohibited from idling fro more than three minutes under existing state regulation, but these regulations are ignored and unenforced (there are only two enforcement officers state-wide). The legislation proposed that the three-minute restriction be put into law, so that local police could enforce it, and that school buses be required to convert to low-sulfur diesel to reduce air pollution.
  
• Progress: The three minute idling portion of the original bill was passed into law.