‘It’s already an abomination’: Putnam residents divided on plan to expand Connecticut’s last major ash landfill

A controversial proposal to massively expand Connecticut’s last major ash landfill has divided residents of Putnam, where the dump is located, raised environmental concerns and created potential financial issues for both the town and the state.

The existing landfill is located on about 60 acres overlooking the Quinebaug River in northeastern Connecticut. The dump takes in an estimated 575,000 tons of ash each year from trash-to-energy plants in Connecticut and New York. The facility is scheduled to close in 2024 because it will, by then, have run out of space to bury the toxic ash.

The proposed expansion would extend the life of the landfill by 25 to 30 years and nearly double the amount of ash that could be disposed of there. It could also mean hundreds of millions of dollars in added revenue for the landfill’s operator, Wheelabrator, and an estimated $100 million for the town of Putnam.

If the expansion plan is rejected, it would likely force Connecticut’s trash-to-energy plants to send hundreds of thousands of tons of ash to more expensive out-of-state disposal every year — costs that would be passed on to municipalities, homeowners and businesses.

But the plan has run into heated opposition from neighboring landowners, and environmental and conservation groups are worried about disruption of wetlands and possible pollution of the Quinebaug River, which has been designated a “National Recreation Water Trail.”

“It’s already an abomination,” Martin Fey, a local resident who is one of the leaders of the opposition to the expansion, said of the landfill he hopes will be closed, not expanded. Fey said the proposal to extend the life of the huge dump would bring it even closer to “one of the few unspoiled reaches of the Quinebaug River.”

Critics of the plan won what is likely to be a temporary victory earlier this month when Putnam’s Inland-Wetland Commission rejected Wheelabrator’s initial application. Commission members said they didn’t have all the information they wanted, and the decision will allow Wheelabrator to submit an amended plan.

“Wheelabrator is committed to protecting public health and the environment and operational excellence as is demonstrated by our longstanding partnership with the town of Putnam,” Don Musial, general manager of Wheelabrator Putnam, said in an email this week.

“Our operations meet and outperform some of the most stringent environmental standards in the world,” Musial said. He added that the design for the proposed expansion “is essentially the same as was permitted” by Connecticut environmental officials for the existing landfill.

Musial said two-thirds of the ash that is going into the Putnam landfill comes from Wheelabrator trash-to-energy plants in Connecticut and New York. He said Wheelabrator doesn’t include the charges for transport and disposal from those company plants to Putnam as revenue.

The state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers would also have to approve the expansion project. The federal agency is involved because of the landfill’s proximity to the Quinebaug River and the project’s potential impact on wetlands.

DEEP officials say they are still evaluating the proposed expansion and reviewing the plan’s potential impact on wildlife, wetlands, and water quality in the area. That review process could take more than a year, according to officials.

Wheelabrator wants to expand the landfill site by 68 acres to allow disposal of what could amount to more than 14 million tons of ash over the next 25 to 30 years. The new section, like the existing landfill, would be double-lined with petroleum-based materials to contain any polluted runoff or leachate.

The project would also mean filling in 7.23 acres of existing wetlands and a 1,476-foot long stream, creating man-made marsh on other portions of the site, relocating a power line closer to the river, and raising the height of the mountain of ash to nearly 500 feet above sea level.

In addition to the ash disposal area, Wheelabrator would also use another 27.2 acres for exterior grading, stormwater basins, access roads and other facilities.

“Any expansion of an ash landfill poses a danger,” said Kevin Budris, a staff attorney with the Conservation Law Foundation, an environmental group that opposes the plan for a larger ash dump. “It’s only a matter of time until this landfill leaks … And this one’s immediately adjacent to the Quinebaug River.”

The Conservation Law Foundation has filed a suit to block Wheelabrator’s plans for a similar expansion of an ash landfill in Saugus, Mass. “It’s possible we’ll be involved [in opposition to the Putnam landfill expansion] in some more formal capacity moving forward,” Budris said.

Wheelabrator officials have promised the expansion would meet all state and federal environmental requirements.

Fey believes the battle is far from over despite the Inland-Wetland Commission’s recent ruling.

“I expect they’ll be back,” Fey said. He cited the fact that Wheelabrator has hundreds of millions of dollars at stake, and some town officials and residents don’t want to lose the $3 million a year in revenue Putnam receives from the landfill operation.

Putnam Mayor Barney Seney has no problem with the expansion.

“The ash landfill has been here 20 years,” Seney said this week. “There’s been no safety or environmental issues … They’ve been good neighbors.” The mayor said he’s confident that state and federal agencies would make sure the landfill expansion would meet all safety and environmental requirements.

The money involved is a key issue for many Putnam residents, Seney said. “In all honesty, yes … It would affect the tax rate if we did, in fact, lose it,” he said.

“We’re up against a lot of people in town,” Fey said of the funding questions. “The town has to be weaned off this. We’ve been addicted to it for 25 years.”

Fey owns about 60 acres and his property abuts one of the parcels Wheelabrator intends to buy as part of the expansion plan. Fey and his wife, Delia, live about a half-mile from the landfill, and their property includes about 3,500 feet of riverfront.

Now 65, Fey said he wants to leave the property unspoiled for his children to enjoy. “I want to leave it the way it is,” he said. “I feel like I’m a steward.”

The custodians of The Last Green Valley National Heritage Corridor are also worried about what the expansion of this ash landfill might do to the Quinebaug.

“This project has the potential to significantly impact important natural, cultural, historic, scenic and recreational resources,” Lois Bruinooge, executive director of the corridor’s management organization, warned in a letter to the Army Corps of Engineers.

But Musial insisted that “Wheelabrator Putnam has and will continue to protect the aesthetics of the Quinebaug River by preserving the current river experience.”

The 1,100-square-mile corridor covers 26 towns in eastern Connecticut and nine communities in south-central Massachusetts. It was an area designated by Congress in 1994 and the National Park Service has spent more than $11 million to promote and protect the corridor.

In her letter, Bruinooge said the Quinebaug is a river that runs through the heart of a “unique and rare landscape in the coastal sprawl between Boston and Washington, D.C.”

Bruinooge also questioned how well the proposed containment systems for the expanded landfill would handle the bigger and more frequent storms that are expected to develop because of climate change.

Another major concern is that the special liners and other anti-pollution measures proposed for the expanded landfill would have to be monitored far into the future, according to Bruinooge.

“The containment systems must last forever, an almost impossible task that requires planning and funding set aside to address future impacts that cannot be identified at this time,” Bruinooge said in her letter.

If the Putnam ash dump closes, the result is likely to be higher out-of-state disposal costs for the Connecticut trash-to-energy plants that now send their ash residue to that facility.

Connecticut burns about 2.38 million tons of garbage a year, and what isn’t consumed in the heat or emitted up the smokestacks ends up as ash. In 2017, ash residue from state plants amounted to more than 555,600 tons and most of that was buried in the Putnam landfill.

Thomas Kirk, president of the quasi-state agency that runs the Hartford region waste-to-energy plant, said that operation is now paying $64.58 per ton to have its ash trucked to and disposed in the Putnam dump. The cost to the Materials Innovation and Recycling Authority, which runs the regional facility, comes out to more than $9.6 million a year.

Bids to dispose of ash from MIRA’s plant came in from Wheelabrator’s Putnam operation and from Covanta’s landfill on Bondi’s Island in the Connecticut River between Agawam and Springfield. Wheelabrator won the current contract with a bid slightly below Covanta’s, according to Kirk.

Kirk said loss of the Putnam ash dump could result in less competition from disposal firms and thus higher disposal costs for MIRA and other trash-to-energy plants.

“Clearly Connecticut relies heavily on [burning garbage to create energy] for trash disposal,” said Lee Sawyer, chief of staff to DEEP Commissioner Katie Dykes. “That creates a tremendous amount of ash that needs disposal,” adding that the Putnam landfill is the nearest ash disposal facility for most of this state’s trash plants.

“We have not evaluated the economic or financial impacts of what might occur if that ash has to be transported longer distances,” Sawyer said.

Robert Isner, DEEP’s director of waste engineering and enforcement division, said his unit’s review of the project is limited to whether the proposed expanded ash disposal areas meet all state safety requirements.

Timothy Dugan, a spokesman for the New England division of the Army Corps of Engineers, said the federal agency is also reviewing Wheelabrator’s suggested alternatives for ash disposal if the current expansion plan is rejected.

If federal officials do approve the expansion, the Army Corps of Engineers could require Wheelabrator to pay into a special fund to compensate for any damage done to existing wetlands. The money would then be used to restore or expand other wetland areas in Connecticut.

Gregory B. Hladky can be reached at ghladky@courant.com