When somebody gives you an island, the least you can do is take care of it. That’s pretty much what happened last Thursday when a group of a dozen or so land lovers from the Greenwich Land Trust (GLC), armed with rakes, saws, clippers, gloves, and trash bags, boarded a launch at the Belle Haven
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Conservation groups are pushing for Plum Island, home to hundreds of avian and plant species, to become a national wildlife refuge, complete with public hiking trails. We like this idea – at least the refuge concept. Let the loons, scoters, buffleheads, piping plovers and terns have the run of the place, along with wild orchids
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The floor of Long Island Sound is mostly soft muck with rock outcroppings in spots close to shore, but its 11-mile width is stitched with utility cables, lobster pots and other man-made structures. Yet even more intriguing are the 140 shipwrecks on the bottom of the Sound, the remains of vessels from the 17th to
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The state is trying to reclaim more than $3 million from ExxonMobil, saying the former Exxon Corp. was covered by insurance at the same time it was applying for reimbursements from a trust fund meant to help service stations clean up around leaking underground tanks. via State Seeks $3 Million From ExxonMobil – Courant.com. Blog
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“The water quality in this river in a big problem,” said Dick Harris,  director of the Harbor Watch/River Watch program at Earthplace in Westport. “The water quality in the river is not what it should be and it has been that way for the past 12 years.” via Harbor Watch director: ‘Something needs to be
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BRIDGEPORT — Students at Columbus School will get to spend another year in the so-called “swing space” school in the south end thanks to window caulk. School building officials who have been working for two years to update and renovate the permanent school on George Street recently discovered the presence of polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs,
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NauVEL (Naugatuck Valley Emend Lead Hazards Program, NauVEL, a program of the Naugatuck Valley Health District) is in its second year of a $3 million Housing and Urban Development lead abatement grant it got through a competitive application. Its goal is to complete lead abatement at 154 units in six towns — Ansonia, Beacon Falls,
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Local landscapers were able to learn the basics of “greenscaping” through a recent two-day program at Connecticut’s Beardsley Zoo sponsored by the city. About 50 participants attended a classroom session, on rain garden design, and then installed a rain garden near the zoo’s Hanson Exploration Station building. via Landscapers get tips on creating rain gardens
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The South Western Region Metropolitan Planning Organization (SWRMPO), will meet on May 27 to discuss a transportation policy, programs and projects that concern the South Western Region. The meeting agenda includes: the status and reprogramming of American Reinvestment and Recovery Act funding for the region, the Transportation Improvement Program (TIP), and approval of the Metropolitan
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The tricky process of sealing an offshore oil well with cement — suspected as a major contributor to the Gulf of Mexico disaster — has failed dozens of times in the past, according to an Associated Press investigation. via Bad cement job contributed to Gulf of Mexico oil spill – The Register Citizen. Blog this!
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BRISTOL — With congratulations all around, city leaders and the owner of Renaissance Downtowns Tuesday formally closed a deal that promises to create a new city center. It’s time, said Chairman Frank Johnson of the Bristol Downtown Development Corp., to “stop talking about what used to be in downtown Bristol and start talking about what
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This past Sunday, a beautiful spring day like today, residents gathered behind New Hartford Town Hall to take part in the rescheduled Earth Weekend Spring Cleanup. With the sun starting to break through the clouds, the group was welcomed by Madeline McClave of the Land Trust and Alison Murdoch of the Conservation Commission. Participants were
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A dream came true for Sherman farmer Tony Hapanowich last Saturday when town voters overwhelming approved buying his family farm, Happy Acres. via Sherman buys into Happy Acres’ future – New Milford Spectrum. Blog this! Bookmark on Delicious Digg this post Recommend on Facebook Share on Linkedin share via Reddit Share with Stumblers Tweet about
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Kayla Auger, a sophomore in Killingly High School’s agricultural education program, along with a group of sophomores from the agricultural education program, delivered the last of two shiny red book barns to Thompson Library on Tuesday. The other was delivered to Putnam Library last week. Blog this! Bookmark on Delicious Digg this post Recommend on
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East Lyme — The Board of Education voted Monday to direct an architectural company to come up with a preliminary design and feasibility study for an artificial turf field at the high school. via EL school board moves forward on artificial turf field design | The Day. Blog this! Bookmark on Delicious Digg this post
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Even though the Guilford Preservation Alliance (GPA) is celebrating 30 years of existence, president of its board of directors Harry Haskell said all citizens, historians or not, should realize that “we are creating history every day.” Founded in 1980, GPA is a non-profit organization of citizen-volunteers dedicated to preserving and protecting the town’s built and
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We had a nice visit recently with Gary Sheu, deputy press director at the Taipei Economic & Cultural Office in New York City, and his senior press officer, April Chen. Mr. Sheu reports Taiwan will open its fourth nuclear-power plant next year, which will increase nuclear’s share of electricity generation on the island to 30
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Waterford – David Collins, the retired Millstone Power Station worker who has accused federal regulators and nuclear complex owner Dominion of safety lapses and mismanagement, has withdrawn his complaint from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The NRC, however, will continue to investigate any specific safety allegations in the complaint, which was filed last month with the
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East Lyme – With the region facing a predicted 10-million-gallon-a-day water shortfall by 2040, the clock is ticking for cities and towns in southeastern Connecticut to start to address the problem. East Lyme First Selectman Paul Formica, whose town has battled water shortages for nearly 20 years, said he wants to start working toward what
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FORT WORTH — Energy efficiency is on the mind of every homeowner, but the same could be said of Uncle Sam. Officials at Naval Air Station Fort Worth are increasingly embracing greener initiatives to reduce electricity, gas, water and fuel consumption and use alternative energy sources. Blog this! Bookmark on Delicious Digg this post Recommend
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