Say No To Niagara Petition

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">***MUST be a current University of Hartford student to sign this petition***</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Target: </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">Bloomfield Mayor Joan Gamble, Town Council Member Rep. David Baram, State Senators Bye and Coleman, and Governor Malloy</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Region: University of Hartford </span></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Park River (also known as the Hog River) is an essential component at the epicenter of our University of Hartford campus. This river that runs straight through our campus acts as a natural divider of the academic and residential sides of our beautiful campus. The Hog River is an important part of our environment and is well-loved by all University students. The University of Hartford is not just the college we attend classes at, it is our home, and it is our job to protect our home. </span></em></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Town Council of Bloomfield, CT voted in agreement upon a settlement behind closed doors with Niagara Water Bottling Company. This settlement allows:</span></p><p>&nbsp;</p><ol><li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">10 acres of land to be allocated for Niagara to build a 443,000 square foot plastic manufacturing and water bottling plant off of Woodland Avenue that would open November, 2016. </span></li><li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Niagara to pump up to 1.8 million gallons of water each day from the MDC (Metropolitan District Committee). </span></li><li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Niagara has proposed a $4.9 million tax abatement. If given, Bloomfield taxpayers will have to make up these dollars in lost public revenues each year to support the public services used by Niagara.</span></li><li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Niagara is only pledging to create 38 new, low-wage jobs&mdash;which will virtually have no impact on the unemployed members of the local community.</span></li><li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">An anticipated 100+ trucks taking round-trips each day, on a 24 hour timeframe. That is approximately one diesel truck passing by every fifteen minutes. At full anticipated capacity, this would go up to 200 trucks a day. This truck traffic will also take a toll on the roads, a hidden cost to Bloomfield residents and neighboring towns.</span></li><li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Should this area experience water shortages, our Connecticut Law does not allow the MDC to cut off the water supply to Niagara. Even in a time of drought (when only 50% of total water supply remains), it could only be mandated that the MDC can cut down the water supply to Niagara by 25%.</span></li></ol><p>&nbsp;</p><p><br /><span style="font-weight: 400;">As students of the University of Hartford, We, the undersigned, (in support of the &ldquo;Save Our Water&rdquo; organization), stand in support for the retrieval of the settlement with Niagara Water Bottling Company and the Town of Bloomfield, Connecticut.</span></p>