There are policy options for Connecticut to reduce environmental and health risks across the state.
According to the Department of Environmental Protection, 42 public water wells, serving over 150,000 people, have been contaminated with toxic solvents, pesticides or road salt over the past 2 decades. At least 6 of these wells were so contaminated they have been closed.
In response, the CT legislature passed the Aquifer Protection Act ten years ago to prevent toxic contamination from polluting large public drinking water wells. Regulations to protect Connecticut's aquifers were to be passed in 1991, yet they still are not in place.
Although the DEP has developed draft regulations, they have not even scheduled public hearings for the regulations. Stalling on such important public health protections only puts Connecticut residents at greater risk of exposure to toxic chemicals.
It is common sense that businesses using hazardous chemicals should be prohibited in the small areas which supply hundreds of thousands of residents with drinking water. The DEP should recognize this threat and immediately begin public hearings to pass the aquifer protection regulations.
Coal and oil burning power plants are the largest industrial sources of air pollution in Connecticut. New natural gas plants also present an environmental risk, due to emissions, potential for oil spills, and water usage.
Due to a loophole in the Clean Air Act, the oldest and dirtiest plants operate under more lenient standards than newer facilities. This loophole should immediately be closed by the Rowland Administration. And, citizens must be meaningfully involved in any decisions to site new gas plants. New gas plants should not be sited in areas with limited water resources, nor should they be sited without replacing a coal or oil plant of equivalent size.
Industrial Toxic Chemical Use
The "lifecycle" of industrial chemical use poses threats to residents, workers, and consumers. These risks stem from potential accidents, spills, emissions, worker handling, waste disposal, toxins in products, and product disposal. Unfortunately, Connecticut does not have a pollution prevention law to reduce these threats. To make the problem worse, the state's pollution prevention program, ConnTAP, was eliminated two years ago.
The state should immediately implement a toxics use reduction program, based on the Toxics Use Reduction Act (TURA) in Massachusetts—the nation's most effective pollution prevention law. TURA has cut industrial use of toxic chemicals in Massachusetts by over 200 million pounds since 1990 and gives residents access to information about the most dangerous chemicals used in their communities.
Hazardous waste sites can pose a health threat due to direct exposure (i.e., through dermal contact) or contamination of drinking water. In 1997 alone, 31,320 people in Connecticut had their drinking water standards violated. According to the Department of Environmental Protection, there are over 3,000 hazardous waste sites in the state.
In 1996, the state promulgated new regulations to speed the cleanup of these sites. However, unlike Massachusetts which had previously passed similar regulations, there were no provisions to allow citizens to participate in the cleanup process. This means that residents who want to ensure that their communities are safe and free from toxic contamination can have almost no say in how a toxic site in their neighborhood is cleaned up. Furthermore, cleanups are usually directed by the companies who caused the contamination. Their primary interest is protecting their bottom line rather than the health and safety of Connecticut's residents.
A public participation program that provides grants to community groups and allows access to all information about a hazardous waste site would provide essential oversight in the cleanup program and ensure that cleanups are done right the first time.
Medical waste incinerators are the number two source of dioxin and number four source of mercury in the environment, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Dioxin is a known human carcinogen, and has been linked to reproductive and developmental disorders and immune system damage. Mercury is a potent neurotoxin which interferes with the normal brain development of fetuses and infants.
The state should impose strong regulations to limit toxic emissions. Specifically, the state should take advantage of its option to create tougher regulations for medical waste incinerators than those put forward by the EPA under the Clean Air Act. The state should also shut down all medical waste incinerators that currently are not operating. As a pollution prevention measure, the state should also implement a specific programs to help hospitals eliminate their use of toxic materials like PVC and mercury-containing products.
Connecticut burns 60 percent of its waste, more than any other state in the country. Trash incinerators are the number one source of dioxin and number two source of mercury in the environment, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Incinerators also produce a toxic ash which must be landfilled. According to the EPA, all landfills can be expected to eventually leak.
The state has failed miserably at achieving its January 1, 2000 goal of recycling and reducing 40% of the municipal solid waste generated each year. The state's continued reliance on trash incineration for solid waste disposal is one of the unfortunate circumstances that arises from not meeting this goal.
The state should more aggressively pursue its goal of reducing and recycling waste, and should shut down incinerators when their in-state need is eliminated.
Connecticut is home to four nuclear power plants. Two of the plants, Millstone II and III, are currently operating, while Millstone I and Connecticut Yankee have been shut down. Both continue to store radioactive materials on site. To date, decommissioning has begun only at the Connecticut Yankee plant. Both Millstone II and III continue to pose a serious risk to public health and the environment due to radioactive emissions, discharges of toxic chemicals, the potential for accident, and generation of radioactive waste. Millstone I and Connecticut Yankee pose a risk due to their continued storage of radioactive materials.
Both Millstone II and III should be shut down immediately. By closing the Millstone plants we can protect public health and invest in safer, less expensive and more sustainable forms of electricity. The decommissioning of Millstone I and Connecticut Yankee should be done in a deliberate manner with the public integrally involved in the cleanup process.
41 South Main Street, Suite 5
West Hartford, CT 06107
tac@toxicsaction.org