NVCOG Sounds The Alarm About Ansonia Embankment Dam

Editor’s note: The inspection report cited in this story mistakenly said the Coe Pond Dam is in Seymour. It is not. The Coe Pond Dam referenced here is in Ansonia. This story was revised on March 13, 2024.

ANSONIA – The privately-owned Coe Pond Dam is at risk of failing and poses a threat to people and property, the Naugatuck Valley Council of Governments (NVCOG) announced Monday.

A March 6 inspection report given to NVCOG ​“details numerous deficiencies” that could cause the dam to breach at any moment.

“A breach would inundate and damage the adjacent commuter rail line with the potential for loss of human life and property,” according to the NVCOG statement. ​“The report states in no uncertain terms that Coe Pond Dam is an imminent public safety threat and calls into doubt its structural integrity.”

The earth dam keeps water off the Metro-North commuter train tracks. Its failure would flood the tracks.

However, the threat to people beyond train commuters isn’t known because it hasn’t been studied, according to Rick Dunne, NVCOG’s executive director. 

He said that type of data would be required if the dam’s owner filed an emergency response plan – but officials have complained the dam’s owner and previous owners have not done anything to address a long list of concerns.

The engineering report ​“recommends the water level in Coe Pond be lowered as soon as possible to reduce the risk of dam failure.” 

To lessen the threat, the water level should be lowered, which will ease pressure on the dam. The water should be lowered between now and April, the report states.

Dunne said DEEP could order the dam’s owner to lower the water level or do it themselves if there is no response.

DEEP officials said they are currently exploring options, and readying an inspection of their own. DEEP last inspected the dam in August 2023. It showed no signs of breaching. The agency wants to see what’s changed. DEEP is also looking for a consulting engineer to determine next steps.

“DEEP is coordinating with CT DOT to arrange for an inspection of the dam as soon as possible,” DEEP spokesman Paul Copleman said in a prepared statement.

U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal’s office said the senator is planning to write a letter this week to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) ​“asking them to review and take appropriate action.”

U.S Rep. Rosa DeLauro said the property should be transferred to NVCOG.

“(Dam owner) Kinneytown Hydro has been wholly negligent in its responsibilities, and that negligence has resulted in both ecological damage and very serious safety concerns,” DeLauro said. ​“I stand ready to work with both state and federal agencies to do whatever necessary to safeguard the public.”

What’s The Coe Pond Dam?

The Coe Pond Dam in Ansonia is an earthen dam. It is one of two dams in the Kinneytown Hydroelectric Project. The Kinneytown Dam (in Seymour), on the Naugatuck River, is the other.

The March 6 inspection report was authored by Gomez and Sullivan Engineers. It points out 11 deficiencies at the dam, ranging from obvious erosion problems to beaver activity.

“At any time, a tree and its root ball could topple, or animal burrows, roots, erosion or overtopping could lead to a breach of the Coe Pond dam inundation of the railway,” the report states.

The Coe Pond Dam is owned by the Kinneytown Hydro Company, which in turn is owned by Trimaran LLC. An email and voicemail seeking comment were sent to Tim Carlsen, Trimaran’s listed contact, which were not returned.

Dunne said that Trimaran had not responded to communications from state or federal officials since taking ownership of the dam from Hydroland Inc. in 2023. 

State Rep. Kara Rochelle said she was briefed by DEEP on the situation on Monday.

Rep. Rochelle said officials from DEEP received the NVCOG inspection report on Friday.

“Given the dam’s proximity to the Waterbury Line, DEEP and CTDOT are working together to arrange for an inspection of the dam as soon as possible, to determine the current condition of the dam. The results of this inspection will determine next steps,” Rochelle said.

Connecticut environmental groups along with officials from the local, state and federal levels have been lobbying for the Kinneytown Hydroelectric Project – including the Kinneytown Dam and the Coe Pond Dam, along with associated abandoned buildings – to be removed.

The project to remove the dams began in 2022 with an application for grant funding from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The application cited longstanding concerns about blight in Coe Pond, as well as the need to ease fish migration past Kinneytown Dam.

In 2022, saying the dams are bad for the environment, the federal government recommended the release of $15,000,000 to support NVCOG’s efforts to remove the two dams. 

A ​‘fish ladder’ – a structure that allows fish to get around the dam – was installed at Kinneytown Dam in 1999, but, according to CT DEEP data cited by NVCOG, it hasn’t been effective in the decades since. 

Native Naugatuck species including American shad and river herring aren’t able to traverse the ladder, the data says, and their populations are far below expected numbers upstream past the dam.

The canal, and Coe Pond by extension, catch the trash that flows down from the dams. In 2020 the trash situation was so bad a dog wandered onto the water and got stuck in the heap.

The March 6 inspection report found that up to four feet of sediment and debris had accumulated in some parts of the pond.

Reaction

Sheila O’Malley, Ansonia’s economic development director and grant writer, said Mayor David Cassetti’s administration spent Monday morning digesting the information from NVCOG.

O’Malley said copies of the inspection report were sent to the city’s engineering firm and an engineering firm for comment. Josh Shuart, the president of the Ansonia Board of Aldermen was provided with the report, as was Jared Heon, the city’s emergency management director.

Seymour First Selectwoman Annmarie Drugonis said the dam is not in Seymour. It does not pose a direct threat to Seymour property owners, as any impact would be to the railroad or downstream. 

However, Drugonis is frustrated by the dam owner’s lack of action.

“There have been issues for years and the owner isn’t doing anything about it,” Drugonis said.

Sen. Blumenthal said a ​“swift resolution” is needed.

“Dam safety is vitally important. I encourage state and local officials to work together to immediately address this urgent issue and protect public safety and critical infrastructure,” Blumenthal said.

Two Ansonia residents interviewed by The Valley Indy who live near Coe Pond both said there should be more information about the Coe Pond Dam and how Coe Pond will be impacted by the Kinneytown Dam removal.

NVCOG’s 2022 funding application states that it plans to ​“fill the canal and Coe Pond with sediment from behind Kinneytown Dam, and cap the site to create a recreational amenity and access to the river.”

Beth Petronchak has lived in Ansonia for 39 years. She can see Coe Pond from her backyard. She has concerns about the plans to remove the Kinneytown Dam, specifically an application that she said shows contaminated sediment removed from the Kinneytown Dam will be deposited and capped in Coe Pond.

“I find it ironic that Coe Pond Dam has been deemed ​“unsafe” in the wake of the Kinneytown Dam project,” Petronchak said in an email to The Valley Indy.

She said the government has not done enough to explain the plans for Coe Pond to people along Kathy Lane, Hubbell Avenue and Sunset Drive. She was specifically concerned about the impact on wildlife.

“Why doesn’t NVCOG look into restoring Coe Pond Dam? I am guessing it would come with a hefty price tag, though the $15 million to remove Kinneytown Dam and destroy Coe Pond is nothing to sneeze at,” she said.

Eddie Jones, who also lives on Kathy Lane, echoed Petronchak’s concerns about transparency. He said he has to rely on checking NVCOG’s website for updates.

“I just would love to see a little bit more information going out to the community about it,” Jones said. ​“Especially seeing that it appears, from what they post, the timeline of these things is coming fairly soon.”

Dunne said NVCOG, in partnership with Save the Sound, is still on track to begin the dam removal in 2025 in line with the project’s proposed timeline. He said environmental and sediment assessments will be completed this spring.

Responding to resident concerns about transparency, Dunne said information about the project is available on NVCOG’s website and that public hearings would occur once engineers give NVCOG design plans for the removal.

The team working on the dam removal is currently hiring a community liaison and will host an informational session regarding the position on Tuesday, March 12. The registration link for that event is here.

A report from NBC Connecticut is embedded below.