Thanks to the settlement of NELC’s lawsuit, the Connecticut Galvanizing facility will no longer be discharging pollutants into Salmon Brook, thus protecting this sensitive aquatic environment for future generations.
GLASTONBURY, CT — In compliance with a consent decree entered by U.S. District Court Judge Jeffrey Meyer on October 18, 2016, a metal galvanizing facility owned and operated by Connecticut Galvanizing Corporation and Highway Safety Corporation has completed installation of a stormwater collection and treatment system to remove heavy metals and other pollutants from its stormwater discharges.
The consent decree and the collection and treatment system were made possible by NELC members, whose years of support helped fund the staff who brought this lawsuit. The suit, filed on behalf of Environment Connecticut and Toxics Action Center, alleged more than 2,000 violations of the Clean Water Act.
Once the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection issues the necessary discharge permit for the new treatment system, the Connecticut Galvanizing facility will discharge all treated stormwater runoff into the Glastonbury sewage treatment system. This will effectively end the facility’s pollution of Salmon Brook and Hubbard Brook—into which the facility previously discharged untreated stormwater— ensuring that the aquatic environments NELC sued to protect will no longer be the dumping grounds for these pollutants.
“It is a testament to the long-term efforts of the plaintiff groups and the concerned local citizenry that we were able to achieve this result and stop the pollution of these neighborhood streams,” said NELC Staff Attorney Kevin Budris.
Prior to NELC’s suit, the Connecticut Galvanizing facility had for many years delayed the implementation of reasonable measures to reduce zinc, lead, copper, and other pollutant levels in its stormwater, discharging high levels of these pollutants into the brooks each time it rained.
