Milford Earth Day Set To Launch At Eisenhower Park

Milford Earth Day is an opportunity to participate in the beautification of Milford and have fun while we're at it!

If you are a local resident... JOIN THE FUN!
If you want to lend a hand... VOLUNTEER!
If you have useful stuff... DONATE / LEND!
If you are a local business... BE A SPONSOR!

The Milford Earth Day Committee is an environmental action group dedicated to facilitating public and private partnerships which result in the sustainable stewardship of local open spaces in a safe, enjoyable and educational manner.

For more information on Earthday visit the official website at www.milfordearthday.org



What? 5th Annual Milford Earth Day Celebration

When? April 24, 2010 from 8:00 AM to 3:00 PM

Where? Eisenhower Park, Milford, Connecticut

Verizon Cell Tower Rejected By Milford Park Comission

The Park, Beach and Recreation Commission sent a strong, clear signal Wednesday night when it refused to allow a Verizon cell tower in Eisenower Park.

"Most people at our public hearing last month said that it shouldn't be at the YMCA, that Eisenhower Park would be a better site," chairman Dan Worroll said. "But there should have been a third choice -- no tower at all."

"I think it is about time that we put our foot down and say to people 'your voice matters,' " he said. "Enough is enough. I can't support any tower in Eisenhower Park. It is a park, not a commercial property."

Cellco Partners Inc., which does business as Verizon, had applied to the Connecticut Siting Council to erect a 120-foot tower on land behind the Woodruff Family YMCA on Orange Avenue. But the company voluntarily withdrew that application earlier this summer when homeowners in the neigborhood -- laced with farms, athletic fields and schools -- vigorously protested.

Residents of Flax Mill Terrace and other streets surrounding the 330-acre North Street park also protested when Eisenhower was offered as a compromise site. The park is bisected by 110-foot high voltage power lines that were approved by the siting council over the city's objections.

Commission members noted Wednesday night that the cell tower would be even taller than the poles carrying the power lines, and that the state does not permit cell towers on its property.

Although only a handful of residents attended the City Hall meeting, several reminded the commission that its function is to manage the public recreation facilities.

"Setting up the schedule of who can use the fields is one thing," Steve Borer said. "But this is something else. This is development and I don't want to see anything permanent in Eisenhower Park. People have been making that clear, but this administration has shown a total disregard."

Cellco Partners Inc. is considering alternate sites, including the Barretta Garden Center property across North Street from the park, company lawyer Ken Baldwin said earlier.

"But that doesn't mean that the Y is off the table," he said. "The plan would be that Verizon would reapply to the siting council with several possible sites, including the Y, Eisenhower Park and the Barretta Gardens Nursery for the council to evaluate."

ORIGINAL FRANK JULIANO STORY<

Milford P&Z Says No To Recycling Facility

A bid to reopen a landfill closed by a court order as a recycling facility is headed for court.

Darlene Chapdelaine, spokesman for Recycling Inc., said Thursday the Planning and Zoning Board did not follow its own procedures in denying the application Tuesday night.

Richard J. Barrett and Joseph F. Barrett, of Stratford, are the owners of the 6.71-acre site at 990 Naugatuck Ave., next to the Housatonic River. It had been leased to Associated Carting Inc., which was closed in a settlement between that company and state Attorney General Richard Blumenthal two years ago.

The attorney general had filed suit against Associated Carting Co. at the request of the state Department of Environmental Protection and the city after several large, open containers of household garbage were discovered on the site. The company had a permit to accept construction debris.

Chapdelaine said city officials treated the new application -- for a "volume reduction facility" that removes recyclable material from the waste stream -- as if it was by the same applicant for the same use that was prohibited in 2007.

"They had decided to deny this application before the public hearing, and it was not circulated to the other city departments for comment, like zoning applications always are," she said.

The PZB changed its regulations for the Housatonic Design District to ban facilities such as the one Recycling Inc. is proposing. The new regulation took effect Wednesday; the company's application was considered under the earlier rules, PZB member Frank Goodrich said.

"Upon the advice of the city planner we denied it without prejudice," Goodrich said. "It was an incomplete site plan.'' The facility has been approved by the DEP to receive 1,000 tons of material per day, some of it arriving by barge. Chapdelaine said the recycling plant conforms to the state's solid waste plan.

"Of the 51 properties in the Housatonic Design District, only seven are residential," she said. "This facility would create at least 20 new jobs. Who exactly would it hurt?"

City officials noted that one of those residential properties is the 320-unit Caswell Cove Condominiums.

"I spoke to the Planning and Zoning Board and urged them not to approve this," Mayor James L. Richetelli Jr. said. "The application calls for bringing garbage in by barge and rail.

"I also spoke to Attorney General Blumenthal and we are united in this," the mayor said.

Chapdelaine, however, said the matter will be decided in court, "and we're going to win.''

Goodrich said Tuesday night's hearing already felt like a legal proceeding. "They had a court stenographer there," he said. "The last time I saw that was with [housing developer] AvalonBay."


ORIGINAL FRANK JULIANO ARTICLE

Local Environmentalists Canvass Milford

Last Monday a young lady was walking my neighborhood with a petition in hand. The cause was to protect aquatic life in New England rivers and also to raise some money to support their operations. The petition, was addressed to our public leaders urging them to force New England's nuclear power plants to comply with the Clean Water Act. The closest culprit to us being the Indian River Nuclear Power plant in Westchester county, see photo and reference link below.

The Energy companies are charged (by the environmentalists) with killing thousands of fish each year. They claim that the fish get sucked into the cooling system of the power plants. Attorney General Richard Blumenthal has agreed that the energy companies are in violation of the legal mandate under the the Federal Law.

The environmentalists have touted that an upgrade of more modern cooling technology is needed to protect the fish, as it stands an 80+ million dollar a year industry is at stake. The power plants have argued that the upgrades will cost in excess of 400 Million dollars, a cost that under the current conditions is prohibitive.

The case has gone to court, and is still in a litigious and hotly debated battle between the consumers of the electric who wish not to have their rates increased, the environmentalists who demand legal compliance and the energy companies who find it too challenging to meet the financial obligation of the upgrade.

Connecticut has two Nuclear Power Plants One is Connecticut Yankee (Decommissioned), the other is Millstone Nuclear, also being decommissioned.

The following link is to an article that references some historical facts on this issue. Click HERE for article.

Photo Above: Hyperspectral image showing thermal plumes from Indian Point and Lovett (Geophysical & Environmental Research Corp,1988

Lieberman Warner Bill In Trouble

Thought you would find THIS interesting about global warming since the Lieberman Warner Global Warming bill may be in trouble. I also sent a copy of this E-Mail to Rose Ryan who has been asking me to promote and help with environmental issues.

I have been looking into this global warming problem for a while, and recently became very perplexed when Al Gores Inconvenient truth was challenged in court and found that major portions of his claims were ruled as factually wrong. The loss of this lawsuit in a British court earned Gore's movie a "propaganda" label on videos sold to English schools. This alone did not sway me, because I think judges are not scientists. What did get my attention was when the founder of the Weather Channel, John Coleman called Global Warming a "Hoax." See this LINK for a different opinion on the warming issue.

What has me really upset about global warming is its parallel to terrorism, in that it is a threat that pushes nations into giving up their sovereignty in the name of "saving the earth." It also transfers power to world courts, world police forces, and tries to justify mass global taxation and regulation in the form of a "Carbon Tax." It also has given birth to the corruption prone "Carbon Credits" massively owned by GE. See this LINK: and this LINK:

Global warming is shaping up to be the next phase of the Elite's ultra profiteering scheme in the United States, and they are seeking to label what our families exhale, and plants use to breathe as unacceptable pollution. There is a growing body of scientists who disagree with the facts surrounding global warming, real scientists not Political candidates like Al Gore who have a platform and a Powerpoint Presentation! This is the current list of countless scientist who disagree with Mr. Gore's view. See this LINK:

Another point to mention is that the largest polluters of our environment are volcanoes, we have had several eruptions in the last decade spewing enormous amounts of greenhouse gas into the environment. Just do the math on Mt.Saint Helens, and Mt. Kilowaya in HA. Also see this LINK:

Data involving global warming has been going on for a long time, just a few short years ago their was public alarm regarding "Global Cooling" See this LINK: One other problem is that the outer planets, Mars for instance, absent human carbon emissions have also experienced warming. See this LINK at National Geographic: This suggest the Sun may be getting hotter.

This is only a small bit of drivel about the contradictory data surrounding Global Warming, and before you submit yourself to promoting this concept I would encourage you to be open minded and hear both sides of this story. While I do appreciate many of your opinions, dedication and concern for our environment, I think we should really be working toward removing real threats like Fluoride in our drinking water water (Our Toothpaste's "fine print" Tells us to call a poison control center if we ingest a small amount of fluoride, and yet our leaders tell us to drink it in our drinking water because they care about our teeth!)

We also have mercury issues in the Northeast, and real toxins coming out of smoke stacks like those of United Illuminating, and the garbage incinerator at the CRRE in Bridgeport. We should also be supporting companies like Hypower Fuel who are reducing the noxious emissions of vehicles through Hydrogen technology. www.hypowerfuel.com

For today I believe the greatest threat to the environment is Genetically Modified Organisms, and plants. These threats are now being investigated as the most likely cause of the colony collapse disorder associated with Honey Bees. These crops, indicative of nothing more than genetic vandalism, are also the root cause behind the growing concern of peanut allergies in children, obesity, cancer, and the reduction of beneficial bacteria in the human digestive process; this is due to the engineered nature of the plant to work with pesticides that are good for profit but bad for your health.

Next time you are holding a Strawberry that is really three strawberries fused into one, ask yourself if you would eat a Cow or a Pig that had the same attributes. This link below will bring you up to speed on GMO's as a threat to the environment. SEE STORY While we are left with this type of a menace on our hands, our lovely elite have protected their own organic seeds in an Arctic vault. See this LINK: This article is, in my opinion, an admission to the damage that is currently being done.

In conclusion, just know that there is more to this Warming issue than meets the eye, I believe that the "truth is stranger than the reality we know," keep yourself open minded and focus your efforts to yield maximum results.

Lights Off From 8:00P.M To 9:00P.M

Tonight is Earth Hour, watch the video for its important environmental purpose.

Illegal Dumping At Gulf Pond May Be A Town Policy Issue. (Opinion)

This problem occurrs as a result of the city of Milford charging a fee to use their dump. As a candidate for State Representative here in Milford (www.rfrank118.com ) I have been proposing that the town dump follow the same policy as the recycling center in Wesport.

Westport rarely has illegal dumping because there is no charge to use the dump. Many contractors are already using random garbage dumpsters around town and making small business owners upset. Even my office in Milford on New Haven Ave. is victim to mysterious piles of garbage appearing in the dark of night.

The cost of performing routine illegal dumping cleanups certainly must erode the small fees they collect, it makes no sense to have our city drop all their garbage on the curb each year for free, but we cannot use the city dump without paying a paltry few dollars.

What I propose is to eliminate the unsightly periodic street garbage dumping and make it free at the source. Hence, if revenue is an issue fines can be increased to install surveilance equipment at specific illegal dump sites.

Every problem dump site should have a sign directing people of consequences of illegal dumping and an advisory re-directing them to the town dump where they can unload for free.