INDUSTRY ATTENDANCE NEEDED
PRESS
CONFERENCE ON US SENATE $1 TRILLION INFRASTRUCTURE PROPOSAL
10:30AM
– PLAN TO ARRIVE EARLY TO PARK
LEGISLATIVE
OFFICE BUILDING
300
CAPITOL AVENUE
HARTFORD
Dan Haar: Connecticut Isn’t On Early Infrastructure List, But It’s Too Soon To Worry
As if Connecticut didn't have enough to worry about, the state doesn't have any infrastructure projects on a list reportedly prepared for the Trump transition team.
The list of 50 projects totaling at least $137 billion includes the rebuilding of dams, bridges, highways, airports and aviation technology, electric grid upgrades, subways, harbors, rail lines and more goodies. It includes work in 29 states plus the District of Columbia, plus a few projects that cover several states.
No one is saying whether the list has any bearing on what projects will ultimately win fast-track approval from Congress and the new administration. The lobbying has barely started.
"I've been talking with members of Congress who are on the Trump transition team," said Rep. Elizabeth Esty, D-5th District, the second-ranking Democrat on the House Transportation And Infrastructure Committee. "I think we've got an excellent case to be made."
"We're working on it," said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.
Rep. John B. Larson, D-1st District, who's pushing a gargantuan tunnel project for I-91 and I-84 in Hartford and East Hartford, said he was also unworried about the state's place on a list of questionable provenance.
"We'll get this in front of the administration," Larson said after a forum Wednesday night on the project, which would cost at least $10 billion, probably much more.
The list, reported this week by the Kansas City Star, was floated in December to the National Governors Association, according to the Washington bureau of McClatchy, which owns the Star.
And while the list is nothing more than an early template, if that, Connecticut would be better off on it than off it – especially at a time when we're not seeing as much economic activity as other states.
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy hopes to make transportation infrastructure a lasting legacy, with a decadeslong plan to spend tens of billions of dollars. "For too long, our state failed to make the necessary investments in its infrastructure and it's our residents and businesses that suffer as a result. We can do better," Malloy spokeswoman Kelly Donnelly said.
Priorities for Connecticut include rebuilding the aging I-84 viaduct through Hartford, a new I-84 interchange at Route 8 in Waterbury, Metro-North Railroad improvements and perhaps I-95 upgrades in Fairfield County and commuter rail upgrades along I-91 from New Haven to Springfield. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Amid local enthusiasm, Connecticut casino proposal faces challenges
EAST WINDSOR >> Promises of up to $6 million in new, local tax revenues, good-paying jobs with benefits and homegrown organizations willing to invest in the local community brought cheers from the hundreds who attended last week’s pitch for a third casino in Connecticut.
One woman at a “community conversation” in East Windsor even presented her resume to the chairmen of the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribes, saying she’s ready to work after struggling 10 years to find a full-time job.While eager to see slot machines moved into a vacant movie theater complex right away, many who filled the East Windsor Middle School gymnasium may have to wait a while. Despite the tribes’ stepped-up efforts to build a third casino to help compete with the MGM Resorts International casino that’s expected to open in late 2018 in Springfield, Massachusetts, big challenges for the $200 million-to-$300 million project remain.Besides not having a final location, the tribes do not yet have approval from the General Assembly to build the state’s first casino off tribal land. And it’s unclear whether there’s enough support for such legislation.
“There are so many questions,” said Republican Fairfield Sen. Tony Hwang, who is working with a nonpartisan group of churches and other organizations that oppose casino expansion, arguing the economic and social costs are too great. “The challenge is ultimately time and the obstacles and the questions that are being raised that are not being answered.”The tribes first announced joining forces to build a new casino in early 2015, originally suggesting several satellite casinos were needed to blunt out-of-state gambling competition and protect the thousands of jobs at Foxwoods Resort Casino and Mohegan Sun in southeastern Connecticut. That proposal was later narrowed to one casino in northern Connecticut. While they had hoped to have legislative approval by now, the process was delayed as the tribes attempted to finalize a location.They have since narrowed the list down to the old movie theater in East Windsor, a tobacco field in Windsor Locks or Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks and are planning to push for legislation this session.Mohegan Tribal Chairman Mark Brown said it still remains the goal to open before MGM opens its casino, but acknowledged they are “in the 11th-hour of that timeline” and it might not happen. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Killingly council to discuss deal options with NTE Energy
The Killingly Town Council will host a special meeting at 7 p.m. Tuesday in Town Hall to discuss several potential agreements with NTE Energy LLC, a power plant developer that hopes to build a 550-megawatt facility in Dayville.
Tax revenue: Town Manager Sean Hendricks said the council on Tuesday will discuss a tax stabilization agreement with NTE that would provide the town with approximately $90 million over a 22-year period, potentially making the company the town's largest taxpayer. The agreement is contingent on the Connecticut Siting Council giving permit approval for the project. The Siting Council, which recently finished the evidentiary portion of its proceedings, is expected to make a decision in the spring.
Benefit agreement: The council will also discuss a proposed Community Environmental Benefits agreement that tentatively calls for NTE to provide the town with $4.5 million in "cash," Hendricks said. The money, aimed at providing environmental benefits to the town, could be used to upgrade local parks, pay for repairs at the community center and be used for student scholarships as well as water quality testing at local lakes. The agreement will also include land easements that would benefit the town, Hendricks said.