COMMUNITY LAUNCHES JUSTICE CAMPAIGN—PROTEST CRRA EXPANSION PLANS
Hartford, CT. Today community leaders, members of The Connecticut Coalition for Environmental Justice (CCEJ,) and other concerned Hartford organizations gathered outside the Hartford landfill to launch the Mid-Connecticut Justice Project and protest the Connecticut Resources Recovery Authority’s (CRRA’s) plans to expand one of Hartford’s landfills, one of Hartford’s recycling facilities, and the trash incinerator in Hartford.
The Mid-Connecticut Justice Project (MCJP) is a coalition of community organizations whose aim is to promote corporate and governmental responsibility for our environment. The main objective of MCJP is to persuade CRRA to become good neighbors to Hartford businesses and residents and to obtain community benefits for city residents in proportion to the amount of waste brought to the city.
Protesters at the landfill were all dressed in black and carried a black coffin representing the city of Hartford. The coffin was then covered with bags of trash that had the names of the 70 towns that bring their trash to Hartford. “Hartford is being buried in trash from 70 other towns, enough is enough,” said Steve Hillyer, a resident of Hartford’s north end. “CRRA has been taking advantage of our city, and not giving anything back to the community,” said Kathleen Henry, another concerned Hartford resident. “I’m here to show them that we’re not going to take it anymore”.
The Connecticut Resource Recovery Authority has five facilities in Hartford, which they call their Mid-Connecticut Project. They are proposing to expand the bulky waste landfill by 250,000 tons. If this proposal is accepted the landfill’s closure date would be extended to 2008. CRRA has also hired a consultant to look into CRRA’s possible closing of their Wallingford trash incinerator and bringing that trash to Hartford and/or bringing trash that currently goes out of state to Hartford.
CRRA has already applied to the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to double the size of the 211 Murphy Road recycling facility and to sell the recycling facility that it owns next door at 123 Murphy Road. Connecticut Coalition for Environmental Justice has filed with DEP to oppose this expansion. The dates for a formal adjudicatory public hearing have not yet been scheduled. Each of the facilities that CRRA is proposing to expand is already the largest of its kind in the state before the expansions.
Dr. Mark Mitchell, a public health physician and President of CCEJ, said, “we will continue to oppose every expansion by CRRA until they become good neighbors and negotiate in good faith with Hartford and its residents.”
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) defines Environmental Justice as the “fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people, regardless of race, ethnicity, or income” in decisions about environmental policies. By “fair treatment” they mean that no community should bear a disproportionate amount of environmental hazards. A recent University of Hartford study shows that waste facilities in CT are disproportionately placed in low-income communities and communities of color. With eight regional waste facilities, Hartford has more facilities than any other town in Connecticut.
The Connecticut Coalition for Environmental Justice is a non-profit organization dedicated to educating low-income people about the health effects of environmental hazards so that they can advocate for the reduction of pollution in their neighborhoods and the improvement of health for their families. CCEJ was founded in 1998 by Dr. Mark Mitchell who is the former Director of Health for the City of Hartford.
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