"The town Economic De­­velo­pment Commission is unanimously behind this project, and we told his district director, Rob Michalik, at a meeting last week that we believe that it would be good for the town," New Milford Economic Development Coordinator Vin Nolan said.
In a letter to federal Energy Secretary Steven Chu, dated July 3, Mr. Murphy stated that AEE, which is owned by Chris Brown of Brookfield, wanted to "build the Northeast's first commercial-grade ethanol biorefinery."
However, in a letter, dated Aug. 31, Mr. Murphy wrote to Mr. Chu that "very serious community concerns have been brought to my attention about the location of this project.
He stated that, among other things, the state Department of Environmental Protection has reported that the site is located in an aquifer protection zone.
He said that some residents "believe that the proposed site for the biorefinery is incompatible with the residential nature of the immediate vicinity."
Century Brass closed in 1985 after losing business for years to foreign competition, and the town purchased the huge building in 1999.
In a letter to Mr. Murphy, dated Sept. 11, EDC Chairman Frank Wargo stated that the DEP and other agencies have been working for more than a decade toward the reuse of the Century Brass plant.
Mr. Nolan said that Mr. Brown had initially indicated that he would be willing to pay $4.5 million for the building.
However, he said a contract offer is due within days and will likely have a lower figure because of rehabilitation that has been identified at the site, which is near where the town's new ambulance barn is being constructed.