Untitled Essay, Research Paper
Dear Mr. Peace,
The Connecticut River also known as by it s Algonquin name Long River is very rich
and still useable for transportation. The chemical plant that you are proposing to put on the
Connecticut River will harm our environment and our river and it s wildlife which live in or near
our river. Also in your proposal to build a chemical plant on the Connecticut River you stated
false information in your column about Connecticut River and it s past history.
In your column you stated that it was an obvious opportunity for greater prosperity through
increased employment, production, and economic growth has been missed in a classic case of not
seeing what is right in front of our faces. This is clearly a misconception of the workers of the
Connecticut River because many people today make their living from transporting goods to various
locations in the east coast of New England.
Another problem with your document in The Nutmeg Grinder was that you said that we
must accept the fact that the era of heavy shipping on the Connecticut River is long gone. Although
this is inaccurate, yes, the Connecticut River has sped up in its shipping and it is definitely not
long gone as you stated in your column. Today the river is still heavily used, more than 3
million tons of cargo are shipped up the river each year. Most of the occupants are t
carrying fuel oil, tonnage of cement, and oil. Today there is more shipped cargo per year than in
the past, but it does not need wharves and docks which were required in the past.
Also in your column from the newspaper you said there hasn t been a steamboat or any
significant shipping on the river for nearly a century. Is this fact something you just pulled out of
the air? Really, steamboats have been running from Hartford downstream until the early 1900 s.
The steamboats were only taken out of service in 1931 which is not to long ago.
Finally and most importantly you said that we were a second-rate state and also a
second-rate river which is a very false fact. In the 19th Century Middletown shipped more
tonnage per year than New York which I think is a pretty top city when it comes to industrial
trading of goods. This second-rate river as you called it made Middletown the largest and
richest town in Connecticut.
In Conclusion you should state more accurate facts before you type a column in the paper to
the public about our history of Connecticut and our river. Your proposal for the chemical plant on
our Connecticut River is absurd because if you can t even get factual information about the history
of Connecticut how can we trust you with potential harmful chemicals and the chance of the
chemicals in our river which kill our wildlife and stop the cargo