Stop the Asphalt Plant (STAP): An exciting new beginning
It is your neighborhood too.
Since 2016 when Benjamin Metcalf as owner of 235 East Canaan Road, LLC purchased the former M. J. Mulville & Sons, Inc. properties that sit between Allyndale Road and Casey Hill Road in the middle of East Canaan village and in close proximity to many residential homes the town of North Canaan has had to deal with the threat of a major environmental hazard in our midst. That threat is in the form of an asphalt manufacturing plant. Town government and citizens have spent time and money fighting this threat to our environment, health and property. In court case after court case this threat has been countered.
In the most recent of these cases the court has ruled that the Zoning Regulations amendment, "To Prohibit the Manufacturing, Production and/or Storage of Asphalt in all zones" did not prohibit B. Metcalf Paving from implementing a previous court approved site plan but the court could not void the amendment “...contingent upon some event that has not and indeed may never transpire.” But it is that future event that is still looming over our communities.
What is at stake?
The hazards of an asphalt plant, warm mix, hot mix, fixed or portable cannot be underestimated. The risk that this project presents to existing families, farms and the environment in East Canaan, North Canaan, Norfolk, the Blackberry River Valley and adjacent environs is real: Asphalt plants pose a threat to both public health and property values. Asphalt manufacturing generates fumes linked to cancer and respiratory ailments. Pollutants include benzene, arsenic and formaldehyde. The presence of asphalt plants in residential zones drives down property values. In the new reality of respiratory COVID how can this be an acceptable risk to our communities.
In addition to the health risks the proposed site sits atop a Surficial Aquifer Potential Area in East Canaan. These areas have been identified as having the “greatest potential for groundwater yield” by the Housatonic Valley Association. Potential need of these aquifers to support local wells and the public water supply should be more than enough to kill an asphalt plant from being built at this location. In addition CT Gen Stat § 22a-196 states that, “No asphalt batching or continuous mix facility shall be located in an area which is less than one-third of a mile in linear distance from any hospital, nursing home, school, area of critical environmental concern, watercourse, or area occupied by residential housing.” For all these reasons and more along with the unknown effects of Climate Change on our water supply, how can we jeopardize this river and aquifer as a potential source of clean fresh water?
It has been said that anyone who passes through the Blackberry River valley on a windless day knows immediately that the air does not disperse very well given the odor of cow manure and silage storage that hangs in the air. Depending on which way the air is moving that sweet smell can be noticed from Norfolk to North Canaan. Can we really permit adding to that mix of relatively benign methane and hydrogen sulfide new emissions of large chain aromatic hydrocarbons and other volatile organics and nitrous oxides, and the risk of photochemical emissions that would result from an Asphalt plant in the valley at East Canaan? Are we all ready to accept this dangerous blend of petroleum asphalt air toxins that threaten human and environmental conditions?
It was with these health and environmental hazards in mind that the organization Stop the Asphalt Plant (STAP) was formed. Our mission is to ensure the continued protection of the health, safety and environmental stability of our communities and our people.
In the years since the group was formed we have written dozens of Letters to the Editor and Press Releases about the dangers of this asphalt plant. Sent email mailings and postal mailings to thousands and posted to social media garnering support. We have found that people from the source of the Blackberry River to its joining with the Housatonic and adjacent lands are all impacted, and that the concerns about water, air and natural beauty of our area go beyond our focus on the proposed Metcalf asphalt plant.
It is a larger picture.
What kind of towns do we want here? What are the values that we have in common that we will act on to uphold? What will be the decisions that will ensure that the kind of town we want happens? What are our shared responsibilities to ensure that the air, water and the beauty of the landscape is maintained? What is the common good? When do individual and business land use rights become a burden to a town, rather than a benefit? How do we keep our communities small business friendly? How do you weigh a business investment in a town against the health of your neighbors? What is the future of the towns along and nearby the Blackberry River going to be? How do we retain the character of our towns?
Our health. Our environment. Our future.
With all these questions and objectives in mind we have reforged the Stop the Asphalt Plant (STAP) organization into the Blackberry River Valley Protection Alliance.
Blackberry River Valley Protection Alliance, Inc. (formally known as STAPEC, LLC) is an environmental organization with a mission of environmental protection and conservation in North Canaan and adjacent towns in the Blackberry River watershed and its environs. Its mission includes, but is not limited to, protecting the air, the land, the aquifer, wildlife, and the health and general quality of life of area residents and visitors.
The Blackberry River Valley Protection Alliance, Inc. remains focused on opposing the siting and development of an asphalt plant in North Canaan, Connecticut at East Canaan due to serious environmental and public health concerns. These efforts will include educating the public and public officials about the risks posed to the environment by the proposed asphalt plant, discussions with administrators and government officials in their administrative (non-legislative) capacities seeking proper application of laws and regulations, legal action to seek compliance with laws and regulations, public education, outreach, and similar activities.
We are also pleased to announce that Blackberry River Valley Protection Alliance, Inc. has been the recipient of funding that will help us to further our mission. This generous funding has enabled us to arrange for the legal representation of attorney Joseph P. Williams of Shipman & Goodwin LLP. Joe’s experience will greatly help us in navigating, understanding and then working with our local and State officials to protect our people and our environment.
Start at the source of the Blackberry River in Norfolk, Connecticut, ride down the valley into East Canaan and see for yourself that it is a rural area of family farms, a vineyard, a fishing club, residences, a church and state park. This proposed asphalt plant poses a risk to area drinking water wells and aquifers, our health, our safety, our general welfare and property values in the entire region. It is time to help protect the environment that in turn sustains us.
This is an exciting new beginning!
Join us. It is your neighborhood too.
Please help us to get the word out about our ongoing fight to stop the asphalt plant in East Canaan and our expanded mission of environmental protection and conservation in North Canaan and adjacent towns in the Blackberry River watershed and its environs.
Thank you from the Board of Directors of Blackberry River Valley Protection Alliance, Inc.
Dolores Perotti – President Director
Robin A. Markey – Treasurer Director
Diana S. Paruta – Secretary Director
Bernard Re, Jr. – Director
Dorothy J. Kelley – Director
Lynn Fowler – Director
Mary N. Perotti – Director
Robert N. Anderson – Director
You can help us now by joining the Blackberry Alliance. You can sign up online at: www.protectourvalley.org. We are asking for your participation in our fight to protect this beautiful Valley.
For more information email Blackberry River Valley Protection Alliance, Inc. at brvpalliance@gmail.com. Or visit https://www.blackberryrivervalleyprotectionalliance.org/.Blackberry River Valley Protection Alliance, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt nonprofit organization. Donations, bequests, transfers and gifts are fully tax-deductible to the fullest extent allowed by law.
