Letter: Take lead on river cleanup

On Jan. 19, we gleaned a great deal during the Conservation Commission meeting on the proposed Exide clean up of lead from Mill River, but unfortunately, not all good news. The Town must be a leader and not leave it up to the state or companies that have contaminated river.

We learned the Mill River, our largest, is listed on the EPA's impaired rivers list. We learned that this stretch is not only contaminated by lead from Exide, but by chromium from Superior Plating; however there is no plan to clean up both toxins. In fact, we don't even know the full extent of the chromium contamination nor will we by the time the DEP is likely to approve Exide's lead cleanup plan. This means that we will still have an impaired river after the lead cleanup, and there will be another cleanup project with all the disruption that goes with it, sometime in the future.

The DEP and Exide have been haggling over the lead cleanup for 20-plus years, so what is the sudden emergency to get the lead out starting this Spring? Especially with the town facing another cleanup of chromium, the extent of which will not be known until extensive testing is done by Superior Plating?

We also learned that the DEP is now allowing almost double the lead concentration to remain in upstream portions of the river in residential areas than in the downstream more commercial area. Exide's counsel told us they don't need to apply for a wetlands permit, claiming our Conservation Commission has no wetlands authority over this massive project. Can you imagine any other property owner being allowed to work with large equipment in and around a river dredging sediments without a wetlands permit?

Let's not repeat the mistakes and failures of the Fairfield Metro Center by being hasty at the expense of doing the job right the first time. Let's not cut out our own Conservation Department's ability to enforce wetlands regulations on our town's rivers and wetlands -- all natural treasures that must be protected. As a child growing up in Fairfield, I participated in the Mill River Wetlands program as most public school children have for decades, and in that program, I learned the incredible value and function of the river and how we must be good stewards to it. Let's now live the mission.

There are two important calls to action: First, our first selectman and town officials must pressure the DEP and take other appropriate action to ensure complete testing for and remediation of all contaminants by all responsible parties concurrently. Second, our Conservation Commission must demand a wetlands permit application be filed for this project so we can properly monitor and protect our resources. In this way, our public officials can show us with actions rather than words that they have learned the lessons of the Metro Center debacle.

Alexis Harrison

Fairfield