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Elizabeth Moore’s article that appeared in the New Haven Register, “Waste Reclamation facility proposed for North Haven’s Universal Drive” was a very one-sided article. Moore’s article does not explain what the proposed project actually is.
The proposed project of William Gambardella is called “Eco Park.” However, this proposed project is no Eco Park. Instead, it is actually a “Toxic Dump Park.”
Gambardella’s plan includes moving acres of toxic soil out of North Haven to New Haven. Both sites are very close to the Quinnipiac River and pose a threat to it. Gambardella then plans to cap the toxic wetlands in North Haven and place an incinerator on top of the North Haven property, adjacent to Universal Drive.
The state closed the Hartford incinerator last year. That incinerator took care of one-third of Connecticut’s trash, and it also harmed the health of thousands of people in Hartford. Now Gambardella plans to build an incinerator in North Haven, taking trash from all over the state of Connecticut.
Trucks will run all day, bringing the trash onto the site in order to get all the state’s trash into the incinerator where it will be burned.
It took ten years to shut down the toxic Upjohn Plant, which spewed toxic air all around Sackett Point Road and into North Haven, Hamden, and New Haven. Once the Upjohn plant was closed, North Haven started to develop Universal Drive into the economic engine that it is today, with wonderful shopping all along that area.
Now, William Gambardella wants to put a toxic incinerator right next to Universal Drive. What will that do to all the workers who work on Universal Drive? What will it do to the air of North Haven, Hamden, and New Haven?
This project must be stopped before it will ruin Universal Drive, the Quinnipiac River, the health of the people of North Haven, Hamden, and New Haven.
Do you know the answer? Play this week’s news quiz to find out.
The air regulations of Connecticut and the United States are not rigorous enough to protect us if this plant is built and spews toxics into the air. The country’s water regulations are stricter than our air regulations.
For those who can remember, even though it was Upjohn’s air that was actually risking people’s chances of getting cancer, it was the water regulations that actually caused Upjohn to be sued. It was Upjohn’s pollution into the Quinnipiac River that finally got the company in the end.
It will be important for the media to report Gambardella’s project for what it really is — not for what he tells the media it is. His proposed project will only bring harm to a wide area of Connecticut’s population.
Nancy Alderman is a resident of North Haven and member of the Quinnipiac River Fund out of the Community Foundation of Greater New Haven.