There are very good reasons to VOTE AGAINST THE SEWER PROJECT coming up in Torrington. In fact, there are no compelling reasons that Torrington needs such an expensive project. Replacing pipes, adding a tank, and upgrading the electrical from the last project 30 years ago would not cost over $51 million. If, perhaps, you believe this project will help the environment, please investigate further. This project seems designed to enrich consultants and Licensed Environmental Professionals and this project will not help the environment.
We all have stories of our systems gone amuck. We love America and notice so many things about our society that just don’t work, too many laws, and laws that don’t do what they are intended to do. The environmental laws Torrington cites as one of the reasons for the sewer upgrade are a good example.. Very rarely can we do anything about our broken systems, but in this case we can send a clear message everywhere: Too much money and no environmental benefit.
Simply put, reducing nitrogen and phosphorus levels (ammonia) from the Torrington area watershed into the Naugatuck River according to the goals expressed by the Federal EPA have no environmental benefit. The point of reducing ammonia from already low levels in our sewage is that it may help fish populations in Long Island Sound but there is no data to support such an assertion. Nitrogen and phosphorus are organic nutrients, fertilizer, and the reduced levels we release into the river after paying so much money are equivalent to what might come from a dead tree.
We all know Torrington spends $1,670,000 to clean up a 42 space parking lot but that is only half the story. We need to know who gets that money. I bet a large portion of our money goes to testing and consultation and a smaller portion goes to labor and materials. It seems to me the more we pay for administration the harder it is to find out where the money goes. We know that the sewer project earmarks $17 million or more for administration.
To buy a property in Torrington designated by the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, DEEP, as an “establishment” needing clean up will cost about $100,000 to prove that it DOES NOT need to be cleaned, and much more if it does need cleanup. The money goes to testing, consultation, administration and forms preparation to Licensed Environmental Professional firms called LEPs, not the government. In many cases there is no appeals process and very little government oversight. If cleanup is necessary then all those who deal with the ”hazardous waste” must be specially trained even though no one touches anything with their hands, and the levels of contaminant are extremely low. Disposing of “hazardous waste” can be nearly impossible.
Again, we all know the system is broken but this time we can do something. Vote against an expensive, superfluous and silly sewer project. Maybe we need a new tank and to update the electrical but our population has hardly grown since the last sewer project in 1968. I have talked to all of the elected officials in Torrington and no one has offered any substantive response. Please tell me where I am wrong, investigate for your self, or just vote against this expensive and unnecessary sewer project.
