Today's State Bond Commission Agenda
Malloy talks trains
New Haven
"New York had an aggressive, can-do approach to big infrastructure in the past — and today we’re moving forward with that attitude once again," Cuomo said at a luncheon.
"We are transforming LaGuardia into a globally renowned, 21st-century airport that is worthy of the city and state of New York," he said.
Cuomo made the announcement alongside US Vice President Joe Biden, who in 2014 infamously likened LaGuardia to a "third-world" experience.
"I wish everything I said that’s truthful but controversial turned out this way," Biden said.
According to CNBC's Reem Nasr, Cuomo told the audience that many of the approvals that would have taken years to complete were expedited by the vice president's office.
"An outdated, overcrowded, and poorly designed facility is holding back LaGuardia's employees," Biden said.
The LaGuardia overhaul is expected to break ground next year and take 18 months to complete, CNBC reported.The new airport will feature one large terminal building, instead of the current collection of smaller facilities, and will be structured to provide more space for flight operations.
The project is expected to generate 8,000 construction jobs and another 3,700 jobs at a planned new airport hotel. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
UIL Holdings puts $80M into proposed gas line project
new haven >> UIL Holdings is making an $80 million investment in a natural gas transmission line project being proposed for New York, Massachusetts and New Hampshire.
The investment by the utility holding company, which was announced Friday after the close of U.S. financial markets, will give UIL Holdings a 2.5 percent ownership stake in the Northeast Energy Direct pipeline project proposed by Kinder Morgan, a Houston-based energy company. Plans call for the natural gas transmission line to extend 188 miles from upstate New York State, through western Massachusetts and southern New Hampshire before terminating in Dracut, Massachusetts.
Construction of the $3 billion project is expected to start in 2017 with the pipeline becoming operational in November 2018. Northeast Energy Direct is part of a larger, 412-mile transmission project that would bring natural gas from the Marcellus Shale deposits of north central Pennsylvania to the population centers in southern New England.
The proposed pipeline is one of several being proposed to alleviate constraints in the natural gas transmission network that have been exacerbated by the number of power plants in New England that run on natural gas. Over 60 percent of the electricity generated in the region comes from power plants fueled by natural gas, according to regional power grid operator ISO-New England. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
House, Senate on collision course in highway debate
Washington (AP) — Senators overruled heated conservative opposition Monday and added a measure reviving the federal Export-Import Bank to must-pass highway legislation. But House Republicans declared the transportation bill dead on arrival.
The developments set the two chambers on a collision course days ahead of a crucial highway deadline in the midst of the summer driving season. And the ultimate outcomes on the highway bill and the Export-Import Bill were unclear.
As House members convened Monday for their final days of work before an annual August recess, Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy ruled out taking up the Senate's highway bill, which cleared a procedural hurdle Monday and is headed for completion in the next several days.
"We're not taking up the Senate bill," the California Republican told reporters at the Capitol, adding that the Senate should instead take up the bill already passed by the House. "My best advice to the Senate is to get our highway bill moved forward," he said.
Hours later, in a hectic late-night session, the Senate voted 64-29 to include the provision reviving the Export-Import Bank as an amendment to its version of the highway bill. The bank, a federal agency that underwrites loans to help foreign customers buy U.S. goods, expired June 30 amid conservative opposition.
Supporters in the business community say the bank is necessary for U.S. competitiveness, but conservatives say it amounts to corporate welfare, and their objections pushed the vote Monday well past 10 p.m.
Presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, who has led an angry charge against the bank and clashed with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell about it, lashed out at McConnell over the outcome. "He turned his back on the American people and allowed one of the worst examples of corporate welfare our nation has ever known to be resurrected from the dead," Cruz said. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
West Hartford plans transit-oriented development on New Park Ave
The West Hartford Housing Authority (WHHA), fresh off the debut of its newest mixed-market rate housing development in town, is readying its next building project.
The housing authority, through its nonprofit development arm Trout Brook Realty Advisors, is preparing to transform the vacant, former Pontiac Center site at 616 New Park Ave. into a $19 million, four-story building with ground-floor retail and community space and 54 living units on its three upper floors.
As previously reported, the WHHA in late 2014 acquired the approximately two-acre dealership site that sits next door to the newly opened New Park/New Britain Avenue stop for the CTfastrak busway.
Such transit-oriented development is an intended offshoot of the busway's development, according to state and local transportation and economic development officials. Locating housing close to transit stops and transportation corridors enables a diverse range of households to reside in wealthier communities like West Hartford, they say.
Housing authority Executive Director George Howell said the pricetag for the development — known internally for now as "6-1-6'' — will be financed through a combination of low-income housing tax credits, state housing grants and a conventional mortgage.
Around 15 units would be earmarked for working residents with qualifying incomes, with their rents tied to the town's median household income; the other 49 would be leased at market rates, Howell said. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
First steel in the water for wind farm off Block Island
NORTH KINGSTOWN, R.I. — Construction has begun off Rhode Island's coast on the nation's first offshore wind farm, a milestone that federal and state officials say will help the fledgling U.S. industry surge ahead.
U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell said Monday that lenders, regulators and stakeholders can now see a path forward. "It's great to witness a pioneering moment in U.S. history," she said during a boat tour of the site. "We are learning from this in what we do elsewhere. I think it will help the country understand the potential that exists here."
Deepwater Wind is building a five-turbine wind farm off Block Island, Rhode Island, which it expects to power 17,000 homes as early as next year. It began attaching the first of the steel foundations to the ocean floor Sunday. The first one touching the seabed is known in the industry as the "first steel in the water."
Deepwater Wind CEO Jeffrey Grybowski said it was a "spectacular" moment. The company took officials and project supporters to the site by boat Monday to celebrate.
They saw the first of two steel pieces for the first foundation in the water. It has four legs and braces like a stool and rises about 30 feet above the waterline. An installation barge with a large crane was next to it, and two barges carrying additional foundation components were nearby. The foundations will be installed by mid-September, Grybowski said.
The wind farm should be operational in the summer of 2016, Grybowski said. Deepwater Wind also plans to build a wind farm of at least 200 turbines between Block Island and Martha's Vineyard.
"We want to build more and larger offshore wind projects, up and down the East Coast," Grybowski said.
Gov. Gina Raimondo said Rhode Island is a leader in a fast-growing industry that is creating jobs.
"It's the beginning of something great in Rhode Island," Raimondo said.
The offshore wind industry is far more advanced in Europe. Developers and industry experts say it has been slow to start in the U.S. because of regulatory hurdles, opposition from fossil fuel interests and the trials and tribulations of doing something for the first time. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE