Location: North Haven/New Haven, CT| Status: Active
Summary: An incineration based waste reclamation facility was proposed for a 90-acre site alongside the Quinnipiac River on the border between New Haven and North Haven. While we worked with the community to defeat this proposal for the time being, it is likely to come back in some form or other.
The proposal, called AB Eco Park, would process material not accepted for single-stream recycling across Connecticut. The plan included building facilities to sort glass, plastic, and metal, as well as a biodigester that turns organic waste into biogas. While the developer promotes the proposal as an environmentally sound solution to Connecticut’s waste management issue, the facility relies primarily on incineration, which is problematic.
The site is presently contaminated with PCBs and railroad tires. Save the Sound worked with community members and submitted written testimony noting the impropriety of issuing a fill permit before DEEP has approved a remediation plan. In March 2024, the Commission discarded AB Eco Park’s application for an inland wetlands permit, with many commissioners believing that the proposal would negatively impact wetlands and that the application did not attempt to provide adequate alternatives to the use of contaminated fill.
The developer had received a $4 million grant from the CT Dept. of Economic and Community Development (DECD) to remediate the impacted soils. While DECD was determining whether to prepare an Environmental Impact Evaluation (EIE) under the CT Environmental Policy Act (CEPA), DECD posted a notice in the CEQ Monitor cancelling the AB Eco Park Project as it had been previously proposed. The notice states that a waste reclamation facility (WRF) and carbon negative power plant are no longer anticipated at the project parcels. Save the Sound will continue to monitor the developer’s plans.
Latest Step: Notice published in the CEQ Monitor stating that the proposed project has been cancelled.
Next Step: If a new project is proposed at a future date, the CEPA process will be initiated again with a new Scoping Notice.
Further Reading:
- North Haven commission denies wetland permit for waste facility
- Environmental concerns over proposed North Haven waste reclamation plant
Action Opportunities:
Last Updated: October 4, 2024