Chris Ozyck brought a small, neat, white bag of his very own “putrescible MSW” (municipal solid waste), also known as garbage, into the aldermanic chamber Tuesday night.
Although he had curated the contents against odor, the Fair Haven activist insisted something rotten is happening down in the Port District.
Allan Appel Photo
Ozyck brings the trash to at City Hall.
The scene that prompted the visual prop was a public information session of the Board of Alders Joint City Services and Environmental Policy/Public Safety Committee convened at the request of the city’s Environmental Advisory Council.
At issue: Plans of the Murphy Road Recycling, LLC, on Wheeler Street, to become a transfer station with an expanded portfolio of stuff allowed to be taken in — namely about 500 tons per day of household garbage, much of which would come from towns up to 30 miles around the Elm City, and all of which would be sent on for burning or disposal to other locations, within a maximum of 48 hours.
Murphy Road, a statewide company, has been processing construction debris and “non-putrescible” municipal solid waste (MSW) such as cardboard and paper products for the last seven years.
Murphy Road now seeks government permission to double the size of its facility, add new, more efficient equipment to recycle, and offer itself as a transfer point for “putrescible” MSW, more popularly known as household “garbage.”
The facility at 19 Wheeler Street in the port district.
To do that it needs a permit from the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP), a variance for this new use from the Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA), and also the blessing of the city.
To get that permit, it first must participate, by law, in a mandated DEEP-choreographed “EJ,” or environmental justice, process. That is, it must speak to concerned citizens, management teams, and other groups.
That’s what brought Murphy Road principals Jonathan Murray, Frank Antonacci, Matthew Brown, and their attorney Edward Spinella to City Hall for the hearing Tuesday night.
Murphy Road has filed for its state permit, which could take up to a year to go through to a final approval. Company representatives are scheduled to appear before the BZA to argue for the use variance on June 21.
Those dates prompted Laura Cahn, who heads the city’s Environmental Advisory Council (EAC), which vehemently opposes the plan, to call for the info session before the alders’ committee.
This was the fifth appearance of the Murphy Road team before concerned citizens, including the EAC and community management teams.
The company says that the issues raised — noise and odor pollution, potentially toxic runoff into the Quinnipiac River adjacent to the site, insufficient monitoring of the facility, heavier truck traffic all leading to increasing asthma and respiratory health concerns — are understandable.
However, the fears are largely unfounded, said attorney Spinella and the other Murphy Road staffers during the info-packed, polite three-hour session.
Given the state, national, and even global crisis in recycling and processing garbage, the expanded Murphy Road site, which employs 111 people and pays $285,000 in city taxes, is “a huge insurance policy” for New Haven, in Spinella’s words.
Committee chairs DeCola and Antunes.
Cahn submitted a sheaf of of concerns about public health and safety to the alders.
She was followed by Port Authority Executive Director Judi Sheiffele, who testified against the plan. She said the new activity is not in keeping with the preferred maritime use of the site. Pierre Barbour of the New Haven Solid Waste Recycling Authority also spoke in opposition.
In addition to Ozyck, only one neighbor, Gabriella Campos, spoke in opposition. Nobody spoke in favor of bringing our neighbors’ garbage into New Haven, if only for a sojourn of up to 48 hours.
Click here, here, and here for stories detailing those previous debates and for the full Murphy Road expansion plan.
A heightened concern arose Tuesday night about bio-hazards , including those caused by radioactive materials that might have been thrown in the trash and find their way into the household garbage collected and then, in the case of a fire, be released and endanger the whole neighborhood if not the city.
Alders Ron Hurt and Brenda Harris.
East Rock Alder Anna Festa raised that concern, along with East Rock/Newhallville Alder Steve Winter.
Fire Chief John Alston Jr., who was in attendance with the full committee, in his remarks both allayed and added fuel, as it were, to those anxieties.
“Mixed materials when they mix with smoke — that could be a problem if it spreads into the atmosphere,” Alston said. “Bulk waste fires are usually due to spontaneous combustion. There are eight or nine ways for fires to start in bulk materials — glass, scrap metal.”
“What about radioactive materials?” asked Winter.
“Medical waste, isotopes, it should set off detection, but if it doesn’t, and it gets into the air … “
“How would you detect it?” Winter asked.
“Heat sensors, other detectors on the conveyor belts detect it before it is bailed.”
Alston said another of his concerns is if there’s sufficient water pressure on the site to fight a potential fire..
“Does the city have inspection authority of the site?” asked Downtown Alder Abigail Roth.
“We rely on the state,” said Alston.
“Does that mean that it is high risk?”
“Not really,” said Alston. “If they have proper detective systems and water pressure. But when it happens, it’s bad.”
“It’s a concern,” said Alston in response to Festa’s question about the proximity of the Murphy Road site to the oil tank facilities in the harbor. “But as long as the normal procedures are in place, it should be OK.”
“If there is a crisis, is there a protocol for residents?”
“Yes, we have phone, text notifications,” Alston said.
State of the Art Fire Rover System
Murphy Road’s Spinella, Antonacci, Murray.
Murphy Road’s Murray, Antonacci, and Spinella responded, point by point, to those and the other issues raised when they took their seats by the microphones in front of a full table of skeptical alders.
First, they said, the company has no license to accept medical waste. Misting and alarm systems have for years been in place. Of some medical waste or dangerous materials should get in the household garbage, there is a new level of safety just installed, said Spinella.
“The Fire Rover system will be put in,” he said, as part of the new building to process putrescibles. It uses infra-red, he explained, to detect heat and then can suppress a fire or begin to even before the fire department arrives.
Spinella called this a state-of-the-art innovation that is being emulated across the region.
Murray said that in addition he is glad to sit down with Alston to work out additional arrangements to maximize safety.
“This is one of our largest facilities, and we’re totally committed to keeping it safe,” Antonacci said.
Spinella said that the city’s own transfer station — where, by ordinance, all city garbage goes and then is sent on for disposal — has no misting system, as does the Murphy Road facility, and no Fire Rover system.
EAC Chair Cahn testifies.
Spinella rested his case by asking Quinnipiac Meadows Alder Gerald Antunes, the vice chair of the committee, if there have been complaints about odor or safety at the city transfer station. Antunes answered there have not been.
Spinella said that with the safeguards Murphy Road has and the additional pressures of its being a private concern — where the permit, should it be granted, could also be pulled in the case of serious violations in the future — alders should also expect a future of no complaints.
The meeting concluded with Hill Alder Ron Hurt and others querying Murphy Road’s principals about the degree of their community engagement.
“This company should be involved with the management teams. I’m all about growth, but not if it harms residents,” Hurt said.
Murray promised the team will attend more of those meetings. He also cited the company’s cleaning up on nearby streets, at its own expense, of the junk left by midnight dumpers.
The company also used to be in touch with the pastor of a nearby church, but the church is now gone, said Antonacci “If there some local contacts whose names and numbers you can give us us, we can even be more involved.”
Morris Cove Alder Sal DeCola, an outspoken critic of the expansion plan, concluded the proceedings.
“It’s not about your business,” he emphasized. “It’s that New Haven gets dumped on and our carbon footprint is growing. You guys [as you proceed and if you get the permit] got to go above and beyond.’
“I agree,” said Antonacci. “We have to do more in New Haven. We want to be active in the community. Just give us the contacts.”
“We’ll bring this to the board so you can have who to work with continuously”
I support Ozyck. I hope the neighbors pay real attention and that the alders are not being bought off.