“People have complained about the odors and pollution for years,” said Heather Govern, an attorney at CLF. “This odor is very unique, it smells like a chemical but also a soap, which the glycerin operations is causing. The smells are not supposed to permeate and travel.”
Elena Mihaly, director of CLF Vermont, said the project “makes no economic or environmental sense.” “Projects like this one generate as much polluting methane as possible, lock farms into industrial dairying, and saddle Vermonters with the bill for expensive, unnecessary gas infrastructure,” she said in a press release.
“We want the companies to take a hard look at their infrastructure,” said Epke, “and make sure that they are doing things such that the system is ready for the coming and current impacts of climate change, and do so in a fiscally responsible way.”
Connecticut is not on track to meet its climate goals. Even worse, the state has pursued an accounting gimmick to cover up its lack of real progress.
Conservation Law Foundation lawyer Erica Kyzmir-McKeon said area residents have been “subjected to odors and pollutants” affecting their “health and quality of life” for more than a decade. She said litigation could be avoided if, before Aug. 14, Twin Rivers “can find a way to operate successfully without burdening the community it exists in.”
“The legacy of metallic mineral mining in Maine is one of empty promises of economic development, acid mine drainage polluting waters and killing fish, and multi-million dollar cleanups funded by taxpayers and not the fly-by-night mining companies like Wolfden,” said Sean Mahoney, vice-president and senior counsel at the Conservation Law Foundation, in a statement.
“This kind of thing doesn’t happen by accident,” he said. “There’s a reason why this site is being proposed for an asphalt plant and not a site in Hollis or another community that’s affluent and white.”
Heidi Trimarco, a staff attorney from the Conservation Law Foundation, said more needs to be done. While she viewed Thursday’s vote as a significant victory, she said New Hampshire needs a comprehensive environmental justice law — and it needs to be enforced.
Maine has taken major strides toward getting more clean cars on the road, but we must do more if we are to meet the urgency of the moment. That means taking bold action today.
“In order to achieve the monumental phosphorus reductions we need to clean up the lake, we need a functioning system to regulate those farms,” said Elena Mihaly, director of the Conservation Law Foundation in Vermont. “We have a lot of concern that the structure right now is not set up for success.”
