In January of 2016 I was not reappointed to the Wetlands Commission. After having served for 10 years, I was shocked. There are several other honorable citizens who were not reappointed to other commissions. I have served the town as a State Certified Tree Warden, on the Board of Education and I am currently a member of the Water and Sewer Commission for 35 years.

I can’t tell you the number of training sessions I have attended over the last 50 years and know plenty of derogatory reasons that this whole process is flawed. 

I operated a service station in New London for 15 years and learned a hard lesson about ground water pollution in a gas station. I guess I had a million-dollar lesson. I have lost all my respect for First Selectman Mark Nickerson for having removed me from the wetlands commission.

There were many questions that should have been asked but were not. There was no one on that commission that had the training and background on this issue.

The citizens of the Town of East Lyme lost and they will pay a huge price in the future. There is no such thing as a fail-proof system for underground storage protection. 

Joseph Mingo

East Lyme