| 'Environmental justice' measure | | Print | |
| Wednesday, 04 June 2008 | |
|
CT Post 05/30/2008 Residents who live in distressed communities such as Bridgeport, Derby or West Haven will get a measure of "environmental justice" under legislation signed into law last week by Gov. M. Jodi Rell. The measure, which made its way quietly through this year's General Assembly, requires that residents of low-income neighborhoods become part of the hearing process when a firm that operates an environmentally-sensitive business such as an electric generating plant, a sewage treatment plant or a garbage recycling plant wants to expand or establish such a facility. The new law is premised on the fact that many such facilities are located in blighted neighborhoods and exert adverse environmental impacts on residents who reside there. The new law is premised on the fact that many such facilities are located in blighted neighborhoods and exert adverse environmental impacts on residents who reside there. The new law, which takes effect Jan. 1, provides an opportunity for such residents to bargain, through their municipal chief executive, for mitigation of environmental problems. Stratford's General Assembly delegation was instrumental in crafting part of the bill that restricts where people or government agencies may place, deposit, dispose of, or store certain asbestos-containing material. The provisions are in direct response to previous federal Environmental Protection Agency plans to excavate and consolidate at one site various piles of asbestos-laden waste from the former Raymark Industries plants in Stratford. Under citizen protest, EPA officials have wisely backed off from that plan, but this new law will give a town in Stratford's case, its Town Council — a veto power over moving such waste. No doubt, the new law lengthens the permitting process for such facilities. But, more important, it requires citizen participation in the process and affords them a strong say in matters that relate to their future health.
|
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|