[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Selectmen of the Town of
Weston as indicated in article histories. Amendments noted where applicable.]
[Adopted 1-17-2019]
For the purposes of this article, the following terms, phrases,
and words shall have the meanings given here, unless otherwise clearly
indicated by the context:
The physical act of placing or spreading natural gas waste
or oil waste on any road or real property located within the Town
of Weston.
The Compliance Officer for the Town of Weston.
The fracturing of underground rock formations, including
shale and nonshale formations, by man-made fluid-driven techniques
for the purpose of stimulating oil, natural gas, or other subsurface
hydrocarbon production.
All geologic or geophysical activities related to the exploration
for or extraction of natural gas, including, but not limited to, core
and rotary drilling and hydraulic fracturing.
Any liquid or solid waste or its constituents that is generated
as a result of natural gas extraction activities, which may consist
of water, brine, chemicals, naturally occurring radioactive materials,
heavy metals, or other contaminants;
Leachate from solid wastes associated with natural gas extraction
activities;
Any waste that is generated as a result of or in association
with the underground storage of natural gas;
Any waste that is generated as a result of or in association
with liquefied petroleum gas well storage operations; and
Any products or byproducts resulting from the treatment, processing,
or modification of any of the above wastes.
All geologic or geophysical activities related to the exploration
for or extraction of oil, including, but not limited, to, core and
rotary drilling and hydraulic fracturing.
Any liquid or solid waste or its constituents that is generated
as a result of oil extraction activities, which may consist of water,
brine, chemicals, naturally occurring radioactive materials, heavy
metals, or other contaminants;
Leachate from solid wastes associated with oil extraction activities;
and
Any products or byproducts resulting from the treatment, processing,
or modification of any of the above wastes.
A.
The application of natural gas waste or oil waste, whether or not
such waste has received beneficial use determination or other approval
for use by the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection ("DEEP")
or any other regulatory body, on any road or real property located
within the Town of Weston for any purpose is prohibited.
B.
The introduction of natural gas waste or oil waste into any wastewater
treatment facility within or operated by the Town of Weston is prohibited.
C.
The introduction of natural gas waste or oil waste into any solid
waste management facility within or operated by the Town of Weston
is prohibited.
D.
The storage, disposal, sale, acquisition, transfer, handling, treatment
and/or processing of natural gas waste or oil waste is prohibited
within the Town of Weston.
A.
All bids and contracts related to the retention of services to construct
or maintain any publicly owned and/or maintained road or real property
within the Town of Weston shall include a provision stating that no
materials containing natural gas or oil waste shall be utilized in
providing such a service.
B.
All bids and contracts related to the purchase or acquisition of
materials to be used to construct or maintain any publicly owned and/or
maintained road or real property within the Town of Weston shall include
a provision stating that no materials containing natural gas or oil
waste shall be provided to the Town of Weston.
C.
The following statement, which shall be a sworn statement under penalty
of perjury, shall be included in all bids related to the purchase
or acquisition of materials to be used to construct or maintain any
publicly owned and or maintained road or real property within the
Town of Weston and all bids related to the retention of services to
construct or maintain any publicly owned and/or maintained road or
real property within the Town of Weston: We hereby submit a bid for
materials, equipment and/or labor for the Town of Weston. . . The
bid is for bid documents titled __________. We hereby certify under
penalty of perjury that no natural gas waste or oil waste will be
used by the undersigned bidder or any contractor, subcontractor, agent
or vendor agent in connection with the bid; nor will the undersigned
bidder or any subcontractor, agent or vendor agent thereof apply any
natural gas waste or oil waste to any road or real property within
the Town of Weston as a result of the submittal of this bid if selected."
A.
This article shall apply to any and all actions occurring on or after
the effective date of this article.
B.
In response to a violation of this article, the Town of Weston is
empowered to:
(1)
Issue municipal citations not to exceed $250 per violation for each day of ongoing violation pursuant to Chapter 39 of the Code of Ordinances, provided that a written notice of violation has been issued;
(2)
Issue "cease and desist" orders requiring abatement of the violation;
(3)
Seek any appropriate legal relief, including immediate injunctive
relief, as a result of any violation of this article;
(4)
File a complaint with any other proper authority;
(5)
Require remediation of any damage done to any land, road, building,
aquifer, well, watercourse, air quality or other asset, be it public
or private, within the Town of Weston; and
(6)
Pursue any additional remedies to which it may be entitled, at law
and in equity, to the extent permitted by state and federal laws.
C.
The Town of Weston may recover from the offending person(s), jointly
and severally, all costs, including experts, consultants and reasonable
attorney's fees, that it incurs as a result of having to prosecute
or remediate any infraction of this article.
D.
The provisions of this section are in addition to and do not supersede
any penalties resulting from simultaneous violations of state or federal
laws, to the extent permitted by law.
A.
The Code Enforcement Officer is authorized to enforce violations
of this article.
B.
Any person issued a municipal citation pursuant to this article shall be entitled to a hearing to contest the citation pursuant to Chapter 39 of the Code of Ordinances.
C.
The involvement of any Weston officials will not require testing
of waste products to determine chemical contents, this work will be
done via contacting CT DEEP or other third-party analytical laboratories
as is current practice of the Town of Weston for other exposures to
potentially hazardous chemical situations.
D.
Any designee authorized by the First Selectman of the Town of Weston
may request the Commissioner of CT DEEP pursue civil penalties defined
by the Connecticut General Statutes, as applicable.
If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section or
part of this article or the application thereof to any person, individual,
corporation, firm, partnership, entity or circumstance shall be adjudged
by any court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid or unconstitutional,
such order or judgment shall not affect, impair, effect or invalidate
the remainder thereof, but shall be confined in its operation to the
clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section or part of this
article or in its application to the person, individual, corporation,
firm, partnership, entity or circumstance directly involved in the
controversy in which such order or judgment shall be rendered. To
further this end, the provisions of this article are hereby declared
to be severable.
Nothing in this article shall be interpreted to ban the transportation
of any product or by-product described herein on any roadway or real
property within the Town of Weston.
