Mattabassett smell must be stopped

I am no expert but the wind can blow emissions from the plant and incinerator probably for miles.

Another year has passed by and there are still nuisance odors in southern Cromwell from the Mattabassett District. Some residents have even smelled odors at the farmers market last season. Imagine walking with a real estate agent and buyers touring a home on the south end of Cromwell when nuisance odors fill the air. Do you think the buyer will still want to make the purchase? Do you think the buyer will worry about air emissions when they find out there is an incinerator less than a half-mile away? Do you think the buyer will worry about his children playing and breathing air within eyesight of an incinerator? Think that nuisance odor and air emissions will affect their decision? What about your health? Would you purchase a home if the backyard smelled like a barnyard?

Did you know that every month several hundred truckloads of sludge come to Mattabassett from cities and towns throughout Connecticut? Did the residents of Cromwell ever have say in all the tanker trucks of waste brought in from many cities to Cromwell for disposal? I assume Mattabassett District must make money burning sludge from towns and cities, but why is it at our expense? How does this benefit residents? The waste from those trucks is burned in the incinerator. We all breathe air that contains the emissions from the incinerator that burns that sludge. We all breathe the odor emissions from the plant as that wastewater and sludge from those trucks from other cities in treated in Cromwell. You can most always smell the plant when you drive by on Route 9.

I bet most residents never knew that Branford, East Windsor, Glastonbury, Groton, Ledyard, New London, Plainville, Portland, Shelton, Deep River, Southington, Stonington, Windham, Ansonia, Bridgeport are some of the towns and cities that haul their waste to Cromwell for disposal! I tried to look on their website for a list and there is none. When I asked, they charged me a few dollars for copying fees to get that list. Imagine that, I had to pay to see what is happening in my backyard. I checked with the town clerk and they had no record on file, so that is why I went to the plant. Mattabassett can bring waste to our town for disposal, and when I wanted to find out, I had to pay to get a list. No one knew in our town!

I am no expert but the wind can blow emissions from the plant and incinerator probably for miles. We get odors partially because of truckloads of waste hauled in from other parts of the state. Therefore, they operate the equipment longer to process other town waste and we reap the odors and emissions.

The town of Cromwell has three directors appointed to the board at Mattabassett. Doug Sienna, Bonnie Anderson and Joseph Corlis should advocate for residents of Cromwell. I would expect they would keep residents informed and help with nuisance odors. I wonder what they have done for Cromwell. You can’t find out how they feel about all those trucks of sludge or odors as there are no reported meeting minutes.

I continue to check the Mattabassett District meeting minutes from their website and I cannot tell who said what or what was even discussed. Check for yourself, go to their website. You cannot even find out what waste is hauled to our town for disposal without paying for it. Nothing is transparent.

So are our directors OK with this? Maybe we need new directors. You cannot even find out if odor complaints were reported. If you ask, they will charge you. I would hope that Mattabassett would be more transparent and place all their reporting records on their web site so everyone can see the.

Please call the Mattabassett District, 245 Main Street, Middletown, 860-635-5550 if you smell an odor, concerned about emissions or property values. I will continue to expect fresh, odorfree air for all residents of Cromwell, not dependent upon wind direction. I want all our children to breath clean fresh air, free of emissions of any sort.