Supporters of one of the most-debated power transmission projects in New Hampshire history say approval of the project is essential for economic and energy development in the state.
The backers of the $1.6 billion Northern Pass hydropower project filed their final brief with the New Hampshire Site Evaluation Committee on Friday. The project would include a 192-mile transmission line from Pittsburg to Deerfield.Northern Pass Transmission LLC is a subsidiary of Boston-based Eversource, and the submission of the final brief is a key step in the project's approvals process. Northern Pass backers said in the executive summary of the brief that the proposal would have no view impacts in the White Mountain National Forest, Appalachian Trail or Franconia Notch areas.
They also wrote that the proposal "has received the most extensive review of any electric transmission project in the history of New Hampshire" and would "deliver clean, affordable hydropower into the New England power grid."
The project is designed to carry hydropower from Canada to southern New England markets, providing power for about a million homes. Opponents who are skeptical of the economics and environmental impacts of the project have rallied against it and called on state regulators to prevent it from moving forward.
The Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests filed a memo earlier this month stating the project would "pervasively and permanently scar the northern two thirds of our state with towers and transmission lines that cut through unique forest ecosystems and rise well above the tree canopy." CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
The long-awaited $769 million New Haven-Hartford-Springfield commuter rail line remains on track to start up in May, but the huge project still doesn’t have enough funding for completion and is facing new financing problems.
Projects to finish the new Hartford Line, including planned stations in North Haven, West Hartford, Newington and Enfield have been put on hold by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s administration because of the state’s major transportation financing crisis. Nor is there state or federal funding for plans to replace existing stations in Windsor and Windsor Locks, or to complete the laying of double track at several sections between Hartford and Springfield, or to repair a key rail bridge over the Connecticut River.
Most of those construction projects, totaling at least $393 million, were scheduled to get started between 2019 and 2021, according to state records. But nearly all were still awaiting necessary federal grants to get them underway, state officials said. The rail bridge between Suffield and Enfield was built in 1866, rebuilt in 1903. Rail experts say it’s adequate for current train traffic but will eventually need significant repairs and upgrades.
“That doesn’t affect the start of [Hartford Line] service,” said John Bernick, the Department of Transportation’s project manager for construction needed for the new commuter rail line. He said crews now working on track and signal improvements “are on schedule to complete the work in May.”
The Hartford Line commuter service, which was originally proposed in 2004, will run 17 trains a day between Hartford and New Haven, with a dozen trains scheduled to operate daily between Hartford and Springfield. Amtrak will continue to run its normal train schedule on the same line.
The new line is set to be starting up in the middle of Connecticut’s massive transportation fiscal crisis. Republicans have blamed Malloy for mismanagement and starting up massive new transportation projects the state can’t afford. Malloy has blamed lawmakers, and Republicans in particular, for failing to recognize the seriousness of the problem and for not taking action. According to the governor, the state needs to find almost $1 billion in new revenue during the next five years to fund its transportation system.
Malloy’s administration is planning for rail and bus fare hikes and to put billions of dollars worth of road and rail projects on hold if the legislature doesn’t find new sources of transportation funding.
Malloy said earlier this month that the legislature must take swift action to provide new revenue for Connecticut’s Special Transportation Fund, which is rapidly running out of money for all kinds of road, rail and transit programs. He issued a list of some 400 projects around the state that will need to be put on hold “indefinitely” if no new financing is found.
Local officials in communities all along the new commuter service are excited about the possibilities of development around the planned or improved stations. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Democratic, Unaffiliated Gubernatorial Candidates Describe Transportation Plans
Several Democratic gubernatorial candidates at a forum on transportation Friday said they support electronic tolling on the state’s highways and one unaffiliated candidate said legislators should revisit the controversial mileage tax, where drivers are charged based on how much they drive.
“Tolls piss people off. I don’t want to run a government that pisses people off. But there are ways to do this,” Guy Smith, a retired business executive from Greenwich, told a crowd of more than 300 that included construction executives and union laborers.
Smith proposed a state-issued debit card to track residents’ toll expenses so they can get a tax credit. Sean Connolly, a Democrat from Hebron who most recently was the state veterans affairs commissioner, said electronic tolls should be coupled with a decrease in the gas tax.
“You and I are currently subsidizing others driving through our state,” he said. “We’re paying, they’re not.”
Also in favor of electronic tolling was Greenwich businessman Ned Lamont, a late addition to the forum after announcing his candidacy on Wednesday.
“I know when it comes to electronic tolling the Republicans have generally said ‘hell no,’ the Democrats, a lot of them up in Hartford anyway, are still studying it, I’m going to make it a priority from day one,” he said.
The calls for tolling were welcomed by Don Shubert, president of the Connecticut Construction Industries Association, which hosted the event at the Aqua Turf Club. Democratic and unaffiliated candidates who have formed a gubernatorial candidate committee spoke for 10 minutes each. A similar forum for Republican candidates was held last month.
“The transportation discussion usually stops when it comes time to talk about how you are going to pay for it,” Shubert said. “To hear candidates talk about how they’re going to pay for it today was really good news.”
Oz Griebel, who recently stepped down as the leader of the MetroHartford Alliance, the Hartford region’s chamber of commerce, said the advisory board he served on in the early 2000s had identified the need for additional transportation revenue and proposed electronic tolling as one potential option.
But beyond tolls, Griebel, an unaffiliated voter who is gathering signatures to petition his way onto the ballot, said legislators should take another look at the so-called mileage tax.“That is where the world is heading,” he said. “We do need to look at where technology can allow us to collect the kind of money that we need to ensure that we have a transportation infrastructure that will really ensure dynamic and sustainable economic and job growth.”
The proposal was so toxic in the legislature last year that the state Senate voted unanimously to block the state Department of Transportation from spending $300,000 to join a federal study of the issue with four other states.
Griebel noted that it would take several years from when tolls were approved to when the state would receive any revenue and suggested the gasoline tax may need to be raised in the interim. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy last week said the state would have to begin canceling transportation projects if lawmakers don’t quickly find new sources of revenue for the special transportation fund.
Those who support tolls said they must be accompanied by a transportation “lockbox” to guarantee the funding is used for infrastructure improvements.
Bridgeport Mayor Joe Ganim began his remarks with a joke referencing the fact that his campaign SUV got pulled over for speeding on I-84 earlier this month as he crisscrossed the state on the day he announced his candidacy.
“I sped up here as fast as I could today, 55 mph,” Ganim said.
He posited that one of the reasons Connecticut learned this week that it didn’t make the final cut for the location of Amazon’s second North American headquarters is an inadequate transportation system. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
5-year plan in works for Winsted
Selectmen hope to update priorities for infrastructure
WINSTED – The Board of Selectmen aims to put together a five-year infrastructure improvement plan by March 1.
The goal is part of a strategic plan selectmen are working to update_ Selectmen were teamed into pairs after a special meeting on Dec. 16 to focus on specific goals and objectives.
The board established the strategic plan in December 2016. The plan focuses largely on improving relations with the Board of Education, reducing blight and boosting economic development.
A key component to injecting life into the local economy is improving the infrastructure, such as roads, sidewalks and drainage, town facilities like Town Hall and school buildings, and vehicles, from police cruisers to snowplow trucks.
Selectman Steven A. Sedlack, who is working with Mayor A. Candy Perez on this goal, said the town should also hire a project manager “to coordinate all that information and to get us moving.”
Sedlack said the other important piece of that objective is to establish a financial structure to support the infrastructure plan.
“The best plans in the world don’t work unless we have the finances behind it,” he said.
Perez said the town has a pavement management plan but it does not set priorities for which roads need to be worked on first. She also noted that the public works department is short a couple of employees.
“We want to make sure we have a cohesive implementation,” she said.
Another significant goal is the possibility of eliminating civil service from the hiring process – a topic that has been discussed quite extensively in recent years. The town initiated civil service in the late 1990s as a way to prevent favoritism toward hiring particular candidates, such as relatives, friends and fellow members of the same political party. Some town officials have complained the civil service system unnecessarily bogs down the hiring process and as a result, the town misses out on hiring some well-qualified candidates.
Perez advised selectmen Todd Arcelaschi and Candace Bouchard, the board members working on this part of the strategic plan, that they should finish their research by June 1, should they want residents to vote on this question in November. If a change to the town charter is required, the selectmen would need to form a commission that would hold at least two hearings.
Selectman Melissa Bird worked with Board of Education Chairman Douglas Pfenninger on the goal of retaining and attracting more families to town through the educational system. Maintaining strong leadership, improving the appearance of the schools and partnering with the Gilbert School, the town’s quasi-public junior-senior high school, to create a more cohesive system, should be the top objectives, they said.
Other goals include introducing a new student enrichment program, evening classes for seniors who could not graduate on time and possibly a Mandarin/Chinese language course.
Perez advised the board to word this section of the strategic plan in a way that shows the selectmen support these efforts; not in a way that makes it sound like the board has the authority to implement these changes and programs.
Selectman Jack Bourque said the strategic plan ought to relay that the selectmen support all of the schools in town, not just the public school system, in the context of attracting and retaining families in town. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE