Plainfield — State lawmakers are working to resurrect a policy vetoed by Gov. Ned Lamont that would have granted residents the authority to override state approval of the proposed trash-to-energy plant in town. As the laws stand now, the fate of SMART Technology Systems LLC’s widely opposed trash plant on Route 12 will ultimately rest in the hands of the Connecticut Siting Council. But, with a little more than two weeks left in the legislative session, Sen. Heather Somers (R-18th District), Rep. Doug Dubitsky (R-47th District) and Rep. Anne Dauphinais (R-44th District) are attempting to revive legislation that would allow certain Environmental Justice Communities, including their constituents in Plainfield, to overturn a Siting Council ruling through a referendum. This policy, which would have applied to Environmental Justice Communities of up to 16,000 residents, passed both chambers last session in two separate bills and was on its way to becoming law when Gov. Ned Lamont vetoed the legislation in July. Somers and Dubitsky said they are working once again to pass this measure, either on its own or as an amendment to another bill, to give small environmental justice communities ultimate say over the facilities that are built in their towns. “The process that we have with the siting council is so flawed that you can put a solar farm, you can put a trash-to-energy facility, you can put a biomass facility in a location that nobody in the town may want,” Somers said. “It is just faulted and wrong, and this bill that we had proposed at least gave an opportunity for the community to weigh in.”
Plainfield lawmakers resurrect proposal that would grant residents veto power over trash plant
