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WHAT'S NEW?

DEP RELEASES PROPOSED FINAL DECISION TO ISSUE PERMIT FOR ZENON WASTEWATER SYSTEM
After DEP issued a tentative approval of Leyland's permit for their Zenon wastewater system in December 2006, SGOD petitioned DEP to hold public hearings, so that we could present the facts regarding this unreliable system.  Extensive preparation by our attorney and expert witnesses ensued, followed by eight days of hearings from April 11 to June 1, 2007.

Experts for SGOD included one of the most highly-credentialed groundwater modelers in New England, Robert Schreiber, and two authorities on coastal ecosystems, Chris Elphick, PhD of UConn and Brian Howes, PhD of UMass Dartmouth.  They demonstrated that the Zenon system as permitted for the Madison Landing development would have multiple negative impacts on the salt marshes at Hammonasset, including the likely destruction of the habitat of the salt marsh sharp-tailed sparrow, an endangered species.  SGOD's attorney, Keith Ainsworth, summarized his findings from the hearings in this document, which he presented to the DEP at the conclusion of the hearings.  Please take the time to read it - it provides an outstanding overview of the issues at stake.  See more about the Zenon system at The Issues Today.

After seven months of deliberation, the DEP Hearing Officer finally issued her proposed final decision on January 16, 2008.  Given her apparent bias in favor of the developer, including her decision to bar a key SGOD witness, it came as no surprise that her recommendation was to approve the permit.  As allowed by DEP regulations, SGOD filed exceptions to the proposed decision. 

Then SGOD's attorney, Keith Ainsworth, presented our findings to the DEP Commissioner during a March 13 hearing.  Commissioner McCarthy now has to render a final decision on the status of the permit.  Subsequently, parties to the action, including SGOD, have up to 45 days to appeal the final decision in Superior Court.  SGOD intends to so so, if necessary, and has the support of major environmental organizations in Connecticut and nationally on this issue.

To see the SGOD Press Release which summarizes our initial response to the decision, click here.  For the DEP announcement of their decision, click here.  For the full text of the proposed final decision, click here.  For other recent commentary and newspaper articles on the DEP permit issue, click here.

ATTORNEY GENERAL INVESTIGATES ILLEGAL LAND SWAP
In 2000, the DEP violated its own land exchange policy by trading state land adjacent to US Route 1 for worthless marshland at the back of the Griswold Airport parcel, thus opening the airport land to extensive development.  Just months later, Leyland negotiated their option to purchase the property.  This outrageous violation of the public trust was uncovered by SGOD, and brought to the the attention of the Attorney General, and the Connecticut Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), a state agency which monitors environmental issues in Connecticut independently from the Connecticut DEP.

The Attorney General is now investigating this land exchange.  The letter in which SGOD's attorney brought this issue to the Attorney General's attention can be seen here.  A highly informative memo from the CEQ providing details regarding this land exchange, and the history of land exchange regulations in Connecticut, can be found here.  More information on the CEQ is available at their website.  Well-researched articles regarding this land exchange issue have been published in The Hartford Courant and The New Haven Register.

ZENON WASTEWATER SYSTEM OUT OF COMPLIANCE WITH ENVIRONMENTAL STANDARDS 48% OF THE TIME
The main obstacle at the present to breaking ground for Madison Landing is that the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has not approved the developer's proposal for a wastewater treatment system.  Needless to say, this is a major obstacle.  At issue is whether this "Zenon" system can adequately process the waste from the proposed 127 homes without polluting the adjacent tidal wetlands. 
Data from the Zenon systems already operating in Connecticut, provided to us by the DEP and analyzed by SGOD engineers, show them to be out of compliance with DEP standards for nitrogen, phosphorus, and fecal coliform bacteria 48% of the time!!  For full details on these data, see here and here (or here if your computer won't open Excel files).

SGOD CONTINUES TO PLAN FOR EVENTUAL PURCHASE OF THE GRISWOLD AIRPORT PROPERTY
A broad coalition of public entities and private organizations are interested in protecting this precious site.  We are certain that if the land again becomes available for sale, that we will able to broker its purchase and preservation for the long term. Recent passage of the Long Island Sound Stewardship Act in Congress (see details here) was another positive step towards this goal.

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