Environmental activists are going door-to-door in Darien this week with a petition calling for the closure of the coal-burning power plant in Bridgeport.
The Bridgeport Harbor Station plant "releases tons of soot, smog, toxic chemicals like mercury and global warming pollution," according to a news release from Toxics Action Center, a Boston-based, New England regional group organizing the petition drive.
The plant's owner, New Jersey-based PSE&G, has replied that the plant is "among the cleanest coal-fired generating stations in the nation."
On Tuesday afternoon, activists with the center like Stephen Soto and Megan Stokes were going door-to-door in the rain, asking for signatures and telling residents about environmental problems with the plant. At 4 p.m., they were on Oakshade Ave., knocking on doors.
Toxics Action is working with a coalition of state groups, called the Healthy Connecticut Alliance, that wants coal-fired electricity production stopped in Bridgeport.
Specifically, said Stokes, they want to "retire, redevelop [the plant] and transition the workers" Into new jobs.
"We're calling on PSE&G to be the good, clean neighbor it's website claims it is," Toxics Action organizer Claire Miller said in a news release. The group says it's going door-to-door across southern Connecticut to build support for closing the plant.
"Bridgeport has much higher asthma mortality rates than other cities in Connecticut -- 10 times higher for children and three times higher for seniors," according to a Toxics Action Center news release. "The majority of the pollution drifts and settles [and] can impact people within a 30-mile radius of the plant, including nearby Darien."
The Bridgeport plant "has had over 70" violations in the past five years," according to one Tocics Action news release.
Nancy Tucker-Datrio, a spokeswoman for the utility, said in a statement released Tuesday: "We invested more than $150 million in state-of-the-art emissions-control technology and are in full compliance with regulatory standards.
"We have been part of the Bridgeport community for many years, offering support, providing tax revenue and jobs for more than 110 employees. Bridgeport Harbor Station also played a pivotal role in the first quarter of this year to ensure electric reliability for the region."
Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.
