In the 2/8/07 edition of The Sound there was an article on pages 1 & 6 entitled “North Branford to Get Enron Funds”.  At the end of the article it correctly states that Branford was “not part of the suit and did not lose money as a result of the Enron scandal”.  That much is correct.  But I was greatly disturbed to see the reason for that described as being because Branford is in another “division” of CRRA than the CRRA Mid-Conn project.

The Town of Branford is not and never has been a member of the Connecticut Resource Recovery Authority, (CRRA) and does not send our municipal solid waste to any of the CRRA plants except for occasional bypass arrangements.  We are a member of the independent Bristol Resource Recovery Facility (BRRFOC), an extremely well-run organization and facility where the Mayors and Selectpeople of the 14 member Towns make up the Board themselves and do not go through a separate authority.  At the plant, our garbage is burned to make electricity.  We joined that region in 1991 and have sent our solid waste to Bristol ever since. The plant is operated by Covanta of Bristol, Inc. under contract to the region.  

I have enclosed a chart of the tipping fees charged by each of the Connecticut waste-to-energy facilities since 1989, that I hope you will be willing to publish as a sidebar.  If you follow the line for Bristol, you will see that the fees our region charges have never been the highest, have rarely been the lowest, but have held to a steady and slow increase, averaging just over 1% a year since 1995.  No other plant has been as consistent and predictable, a distinct advantage in municipal budgeting. 

The Branford Department of Solid Waste and Recycling, the Solid Waste Management Commission, and past administrations worked hard to be allowed to join the Bristol region.  All other administrations through the present have served on the Board and helped to create the responsible, municipally-friendly policies and prices we continue to enjoy as a member of the Bristol Resource Recovery Facility Operating Committee.