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Supporters of a $33 million expansion of Waterbury-Oxford Airport have found a way to keep alive controversial legislation that would exempt the airport from stringent environmental review.

Language that would help the airport skirt the requirements of the Connecticut Environmental Policy Act is now buried in an unusual place — legislation backed by environmentalists that would require stronger regulation of certain poorly performing sewage systems.

Environmental groups say that the newly crafted bill is a classic legislative "rat" — a bill or an amendment slipped in quietly to favor a friend or special interest. They worry that measures touted for their economic development and job creation potential in these tough economic times will trump environmental concerns.

"The [Connecticut Environmental Policy Act] laws are meant to protect the environment, not to undercut our economy," said Christopher Phelps of Environment Connecticut, one of seven environmental groups opposed to the exemption. "Bills like this 'rat' really go in the wrong direction, creating this false conflict between the environment and the economy."

Sen. Edward Meyer, D-Guilford, co-chairman of the legislature's environment committee, said that economic development was a major factor in the committee's decision to vote in favor of the exemption for Waterbury-Oxford Airport. But he said that he doesn't expect this decision to set a precedent.

"Yes, if this were a broader issue that helped projects skirt environmental requirements, it would be a disaster for Connecticut," Meyer said. "But this is a narrow bill. I don't see us here wanting to pollute Long Island Sound. I don't see us here supporting companies with smokestacks emitting black smoke in the sky."

The bill's sponsors — Rep. David K. Labriola, R- Naugatuck, and Sen. Rob Kane, R- Watertown — promoted the legislation as a way to lift roadblocks in front of a project that could boost the local economy with the creation of "several hundred jobs," Labriola said. The project, which includes the construction of a new hangar, is designed to attract corporate jets to the airport.

The Connecticut Environmental Policy Act requires state agencies to determine what, if any, consequences state projects will have on the environment and disclose them to the public before shovels hit the ground. The agencies' evaluations are reviewed by the state's Office of Policy and Management. Some projects are able to get around the law, especially if they've already faced environmental scrutiny by other state or federal laws or regulations.

Oxford officials asked legislators for help in getting the project on the fast track, Labriola said. CEPA scrutiny for the airport would delay the project for at least a year, he said.

"We are in a fiscal crisis and this would be a great boon to the town of Oxford," Labriola said. He said that local officials are satisfied that the project would be "safe and environmentally sound."

The state Department of Environmental Protection spoke out against the exemption. At a February public hearing, Commissioner Gina McCarthy said that expansion at airports could have "significant" environmental impact, including threats to the state's endangered grassland bird species, and more noise and light pollution.

"Without the evaluation afforded by the CEPA process, it would be difficult to assess the impacts of allowing expanded development," McCarthy said.

The initial version of the exemption bill applied to development at all state-owned airports. When OPM opposed the measure, Meyer said that the committee killed the bill. At some point, Meyer said, OPM changed its position and the committee inserted the exemption just for Waterbury-Oxford Airport into the bill on the regulation of alternative sewage systems.

"It's a normal legislative trick," Meyer said. "It's just part of the legislative process."

The committee endorsed the measure, with several members saying they supported it because of a projected economic jolt that it could bring to the Waterbury area.

But state Rep. Mary Mushinsky, a Democrat from Wallingford, said that she tried but failed to get the exemption struck from the sewage system bill. Mushinsky said that although she is not opposed to the airport project, she favors an environmental review.

"I said to the committee that we might as well not have CEPA laws instead of pretending we have them," Mushinsky said.

"I don't think we should set up these laws and then waiver people out of them."