Gov. Dannel P. Malloy touted the benefits of his natural gas expansion plan Tuesday before a construction workers union whose industry is poised to gain jobs over the next decade under the plan.
Malloy spoke at a training center in Meriden for the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 478. The union is working to train its Connecticut members to fill pipeline construction jobs that will be created as the state greatly expands its natural gas infrastructure under a plan proposed by Malloy and recently given preliminary approval by regulators.
Under the plan, Southern Connecticut Gas, Connecticut Natural Gas, and Yankee Gas will expand 900 miles of natural gas lines to 280,000 customers. According to Energy and Environmental Protection Commissioner Daniel Esty, that likely will mean between 3,000 and 4,000 construction jobs over the next 10 years.
The plan also seeks to reduce upfront conversion costs for homeowners and businesses by increasing their rates and spreading that over a 10-year period.
Although the heating oil companies have opposed the plan and claim it will put their small, family-owned businesses out of work, Malloy was welcomed at the construction workers union shop. The construction industry was hit hard by the recession and has been slow to rebound.
Hugh McQuaid Photo
Gov. Malloy wearing his new jacket
Craig Metz, the local’s business manager, even offered the governor some chewing tobacco “to be a real pipeliner.” Malloy waved off the chew.
“We’re drawing the line, we’re drawing the line,” he said.
Malloy touts energy program at city training facility
MERIDEN — Gov. Dannel P. Malloy held a press conference at a pipe laying training facility on Cheshire Road Tuesday in an effort to build support for an energy program that includes expanding natural gas in Connecticut. The state Public Utilities Regulatory Authority is scheduled to issue a final ruling on the proposal Thursday. If approved, three gas companies would be allowed to expand service to about 280,000 new customers statewide. Malloy and other officials made remarks at the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 478 Training Center on Cheshire Road. The center trains pipe layers and others who would install and maintain natural gas transmission lines.
State Sen. Dante Bartolomeo and state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Commissioner Daniel Esty joined Malloy Tuesday. Connecticut residents have less access to natural gas than many surrounding states, Malloy said. Gas is both cleaner and cheaper than heating oil and could make the state more competitive in attracting businesses. “If we’re going to turn that around in Connecticut, we’ve got to get more natural gas into New England and into Connecticut specifically,” Malloy said. “It’s time that we address this issue.” Malloy and legislators enacted a law earlier this year allowing the regulatory authority to approve a new rate plan to finance the massive 10-year expansion. The authority said a rate increase for existing gas consumers “may be inevitable,” but it “wants to ensure that any increases in rates for existing customers are minimized.” Yankee Gas, a subsidiary of Northeast Utilities, said capital spending for the expansion would be $35 million next year and more than $96 million in the following two years. Southern Connecticut Gas Co. said capital spending would be $61 million in the three years, while Connecticut Natural Gas expects capital spending of about $47 million in the same period.
MERIDEN, Conn. (WTNH)-- A big boost Tuesday for Governor Malloy's Energy Strategy. A national labor union is committing to training more workers to install hundreds of miles of new natural gas pipelines in the state. This year's General Assembly Session approved this policy of expanding natural gas to thousands more homes and businesses and Tuesday's announcement will help provide workers to build it. "We energize the new main, remove the 'hot cap' equipment and the service crews will come in and start installing the services to the new customers," said Bill Richards, Henkels & McCoy Construction. Your home or business hooked up to a main natural gas transmission line is something the Malloy Administration wants to see happen more and more over the next decade. "This is a long term vision, I know it's hard for people to wrap their minds around it...but this is really important stuff. We will not be competitive with other states if we stay at 31 percent," said Gov. Dannel Malloy, (D) Connecticut. There is just 31 percent natural gas penetration in Connecticut. That means just 31 percent of homes and businesses are able to hook up. Far, far less than are on line in New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts where energy costs are lower because of it. Because of Malloy's energy policy, the 'International Union of Operating Engineers Local in Meriden announced today they are providing $4 million to teach the art of pipeline construction to workers in need of jobs. "Making sure that you know how to do proper trenching...when you're doing transmission work, you're doing it in a very narrow area, very rough terrain," said Craig Metz, Operating Engineers Local 478.
"We respect the choice Milford voters made today," said Scott Butera, Foxwoods president and CEO. "Throughout this process we've gotten to know Milford and thousands of its residents. While we worked hard to offer a resort casino we believe would benefit the area, the town made a decision similar to many other communities across the state." The vote was a critical step to keep alive a development plan that was one of three in Greater Boston competing for a resort casino license. After Tuesday's vote, the only proposals left standing in Greater Boston are in Revere and Everett.
Mohegan Sun's proposal for a casino in Palmer, Mass., competing for a casino license in Western Massachusetts, was rejected by voters on Nov. 5, leaving only MGM's Springfield proposal in play in the western part of the state.
Work begins on synthetic athletic fields in Hartford
Work began on the first of three new athletic fields in Hartford Tuesday, an all-weather, synthetic field at 85 Edwards St., the site of the former Quirk Middle School's west building. The city has partnered with the Cal Ripken Sr. Foundation for construction of the fields — at Quirk West, Annie Fischer School on Plainfield Street and Hyland Park on New Britain Avenue. Work on the Quirk field is expected to be complete by spring 2014, officials said. Design concepts for the other two fields will likely be finished by February, city architect Antonio Matta said, and work on the fields is expected to be complete by late summer or fall of 2014. The city contributed $4 million from its capital improvement budget for the work. Softball, baseball, soccer and football teams can play there, officials said. Last summer, members of several community and athletic groups complained of poor conditions at the city's athletic fields. They said that heavy use, a lack of maintenance and a shortage of funding were compromising the quality of the fields.
Commission approves drainage plan for South Glastonbury
GLASTONBURY — —
The plan and zoning commission unanimously approved a proposal by the town to improve drainage along a rustic country road and some of South Glastonbury's oldest farm fields.The commission's approval was the last in a series of permits needed by the town to start the work. Those approvals included one from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; three permits — water quality, storm channel and flood — from the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection; and one permit from the DEEP's Office of Long Island Sound.
Daniel Pennington, director of physical services and the town engineer, said the project should alleviate a "long-standing storm drain problem" that has flooded homes along Dug Road and Tryon Street and left debris scattered on their lawns.
MERIDEN — Many unemployed and underemployed construction workers in Connecticut may soon find work thanks to the state's natural gas expansion proposed in Gov. Dannel P. Malloy's 2013 Comprehensive Energy Strategy. The International Union of Operating Engineers on Tuesday held a news conference and demonstration at its Local 478 Training Center here on how the workers are being taught the necessary skills to work on new gas distribution and transmission line projects.
"As you all will see, the way the Operating Engineers have always worked is we will show you instead of explain to you how we're going to maintain this work," James Callahan, the union's general president, said to about 40 union workers before the training demonstration.
The union is providing $4 million worth of equipment and construction experts for a training program begun in November to teach six-week pipeline construction classes at the 17-acre training facility on Cheshire Road. In one part of the demonstration, workers are trained to install distribution lines in the ground to bring natural gas to homes and businesses. In another area, trainees learn to use large sideboom machines to move and lay 120-foot-long pipes. In a third area resembling an enormous dirt play area for adults, trainees used bulldozers and excavators to dig trenches for the pipeline.
Keith Reinhard, an unemployed pipeline operating engineer from Cheshire, said he signed up for the Dec. 2 training session to learn how to operate clutch-controlled sidebooms.
I'm tired of bouncing around the country working," said Reinhard, 45, who has had sporadic employment for the past few years as a mechanic and working on pipelines. "Anything that'd pay the bills." During the news conference, Callahan thanked Malloy for "securing the work" with the energy strategy's passage and guaranteed the union will provide trained people to do it.
Malloy said 31 percent of Connecticut residents use natural gas to heat their homes, while the national average is 53 percent. The state also lags behind several northeastern states such as New Jersey, where 72 percent of residents use natural gas.
"As you all will see, the way the Operating Engineers have always worked is we will show you instead of explain to you how we're going to maintain this work," James Callahan, the union's general president, said to about 40 union workers before the training demonstration.
The union is providing $4 million worth of equipment and construction experts for a training program begun in November to teach six-week pipeline construction classes at the 17-acre training facility on Cheshire Road. In one part of the demonstration, workers are trained to install distribution lines in the ground to bring natural gas to homes and businesses. In another area, trainees learn to use large sideboom machines to move and lay 120-foot-long pipes. In a third area resembling an enormous dirt play area for adults, trainees used bulldozers and excavators to dig trenches for the pipeline.
Keith Reinhard, an unemployed pipeline operating engineer from Cheshire, said he signed up for the Dec. 2 training session to learn how to operate clutch-controlled sidebooms.
I'm tired of bouncing around the country working," said Reinhard, 45, who has had sporadic employment for the past few years as a mechanic and working on pipelines. "Anything that'd pay the bills." During the news conference, Callahan thanked Malloy for "securing the work" with the energy strategy's passage and guaranteed the union will provide trained people to do it.
Malloy said 31 percent of Connecticut residents use natural gas to heat their homes, while the national average is 53 percent. The state also lags behind several northeastern states such as New Jersey, where 72 percent of residents use natural gas.
Hoping for pipeline work, A union train installers
We could be years away from a big buildout of natural gas pipelines under the state’s long-term energy plan, but when it happens it could be big. So on Tuesday, the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 478 flexed some muscle by demonstrating its new training program for unemployed and underemployed workers hoping to get into the pipeline pipeline. The Meriden-based union local would like the work to go to its members, of course, and is offering up $4 million worth of equipment for training, along with experts. “For over 100 years, Local 478 has been a top provider of highly skilled operating engineers in the state of Connecticut,” said Craig Metz, business manager for the local, in a written release. The idea, pushed hard by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, who was on hand Tuesday, and encoded in an energy bill adopted earlier this year by lawmakers, is for the state to take advantage of natural gas supplies by building out a transmission and distribution system that regulators said could exceed 900 miles. Predictions call for a shortage of crews in a state that now adds just a tiny fraction of that pipeline amount in a typical year. The operating engineers’ training program drew a lot of cheers from labor, construction and political quarters, as Lori Pelletier, executive secretary treasurer of the state AFL-CIO called it a perfect example of government-labor cooperation.
We could be years away from a big buildout of natural gas pipelines under the state’s long-term energy plan, but when it happens it could be big. So on Tuesday, the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 478 flexed some muscle by demonstrating its new training program for unemployed and underemployed workers hoping to get into the pipeline pipeline. The Meriden-based union local would like the work to go to its members, of course, and is offering up $4 million worth of equipment for training, along with experts. “For over 100 years, Local 478 has been a top provider of highly skilled operating engineers in the state of Connecticut,” said Craig Metz, business manager for the local, in a written release. The idea, pushed hard by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, who was on hand Tuesday, and encoded in an energy bill adopted earlier this year by lawmakers, is for the state to take advantage of natural gas supplies by building out a transmission and distribution system that regulators said could exceed 900 miles. Predictions call for a shortage of crews in a state that now adds just a tiny fraction of that pipeline amount in a typical year. The operating engineers’ training program drew a lot of cheers from labor, construction and political quarters, as Lori Pelletier, executive secretary treasurer of the state AFL-CIO called it a perfect example of government-labor cooperation.