Press Releases
06/25/2019
AG TONG SECURES TEMPORARY INJUNCTION AGAINST UNAUTHORIZED WASHINGTON DUMP
RRR & Maintenance Storing Dozens of Unauthorized Dumpsters Filled With Household Garbage, Causing Stench, Attracting Flies
(Hartford, CT) – Attorney General William Tong secured a temporary injunction today ordering a Washington-based waste hauler to immediately cease unauthorized storage of solid waste that had become a neighborhood nuisance and threat to public health. In addition to the temporary injunction, the Office of the Attorney General has also filed suit against RRR & Maintenance seeking a court order to compel remediation of the site as well as civil penalties up to $25,000 per day per violation.
Neighbors complained that RRR & Maintenance, Inc., owned by Francis Hodges, has been storing as many as 30 overflowing dumpsters filled with household garbage at a property at 237 Roxbury Road in Washington. The garbage was causing a stench, is infested with flies and is a threat to the environment.
The Office of the Attorney General, on behalf of the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection successfully sought a temporary injunction in Hartford Superior Court Tuesday requiring RRR & Maintenance to immediately cease transporting or accepting solid waste and to immediately arrange for the transportation of stored waste at their site to a permitted facility. The waste must now be removed within 10 days, and a report detailing compliance must be submitted to the Court within 15 days. The Office of the Attorney General, on behalf of DEEP is also seeking a penalty of up to $25,000 per day for each day the defendant fails to comply with the terms of the injunction, with the possibility of incarceration should the injunction terms not be fully satisfied.
"RRR & Maintenance has 10 days to remove their trash and rid the neighborhood of this nuisance and threat to public health. The Office of the Attorney General is prepared to take aggressive action to enforce this injunction and ensure RRR & Maintenance takes all necessary action to remediate the property," said Attorney General William Tong.
"This site has been the subject of numerous local complaints about odors and pests. This action today by the Attorney General sends an unmistakable message that this conduct is unacceptable and this site must be cleaned up," said Lee Sawyer, spokesperson for DEEP.
Assistant Attorneys General Michael W. Lynch and Krista E. Trousdale assisted the Attorney General on this matter.
Click here to view the complaint and here for the application for the temporary injunction.
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