HARTFORD — Although concluding the Millstone Nuclear Power Station will remain financially viable through 2035, the state is paving the way for a controversial plan to allow the company to boost profits by bidding for electric contractA draft report by state regulators released Monday notes that the loss of Millstone — the company’s owner, Dominion Energy, has threatened to close the plant if profits don’t increase — would impact the New England electric grid and set back ongoing efforts and obligations to reduce Greenhouse gas emissions.
The assessment recommends the state allow Millstone to sell its power on the open market through competitive bidding, and notes that any resulting contracts would have to be advantageous to ratepayers."We think this is the right path forward and we are finding a way to do a procurement that is most protective to ratepayers," said Robert Klee, commissioner of the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.
"This offers a good near term option for us,” Klee said. “The competitive solicitation process is a reasonable mechanism.”
The Millstone nuclear plant now sells its power through commodity markets on Wall Street and has complained that cheaper gas-fired plants have undercut its profits and threatens its long-term viability.
Millstone officials praised the report and its recommendations, which are due to be finalized early next month.
"On behalf of the 1,500 dedicated women and men working at Millstone Power Station, Dominion Energy thanks DEEP and (the state Public Utilities Regulatory Authority) for their exhaustive work on this appraisal and for their conclusion to conduct a procurement for new and existing zero carbon facilities," said Paul Koonce, chief executive officer for the Dominion Energy Power Generation Group."The final appraisal is clear," Koonce said. "Millstone is vital for Connecticut to meet its cheaper, cleaner and more reliable energy goals and aggressive carbon goals. Dominion Energy is committed to continuing to work with state energy officials to achieve those goals." CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Developer seeks loan from Meriden despite lawsuit against city
MERIDEN — The city is vetting candidates for a forgivable loan program to improve facades of downtown businesses and spur economic development, including 28 & 30 W. Main St., the former Clements Jewelers building. It is unclear, however, if the business will qualify for the loan because the developer has a pending lawsuit against the city.
The Meriden Match program, started last year, offers up to a $20,000 forgivable loan to businesses and property owners in the Transit-Oriented Development District. The funds can be used for facade improvements, to restore a building’s historic character, storefront improvements, and to “encourage new business activity and create a downtown inviting to continued economic development opportunities,” the loan application states. Loans are forgivable after five years.
The loans are being funded through the city’s Community Development Block Grant program. A total of $100,000 has been approved by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Five entities have applied, according to Economic Development Director Juliet Burdelski. A loan committee consisting of members of the city’s Economic Development and Development and Enforcement departments, MidState Chamber of Commerce, and Meriden Economic Development Corporation will be meeting to review the applications.
“The committee hasn't been convened yet,” Burdelski said in an email. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Two CEOs shaping CT economic policy say state's future at stake
Last spring, Bob Patricelli, the serial entrepreneur who recently sold his physician practice management firm Women's Health USA Inc., was facing retirement but he wasn't quite ready to hit the slow lane just yet.
He also harbored deep concerns about the state's economic and fiscal future and thought the business community wasn't doing enough to influence public policy in a way that promoted growth and stability.
So he tapped his network of friends — many of them top executives of other Connecticut companies — to brainstorm ways they could form a new public-private partnership with policymakers. The self-proclaimed "Friday Group" met last spring over several months for Friday breakfasts at the Hartford Club.
Among the attendees were Stanley Black & Decker President and CEO Jim Loree, recently retired Webster Bank CEO Jim Smith, Eversource's general counsel Greg Butler, along with nearly a dozen other business, nonprofit and higher-education leaders.
Together they developed the concept of the Commission on Fiscal Stability and Economic Growth, a mainly private-sector led coalition that would propose comprehensive structural reforms to state government.
Patricelli and Smith, who co-chair the group, floated the concept to the governor and then legislative leaders last September, who eventually slipped the commission's formation into the state budget that passed in October.
Their efforts in some ways harken back to the days of Hartford's bishops, when a group of high-profile insurance and bank executives directly wielded their power to influence city development and policy.
"We were just saying, 'Hey, we haven't stepped up to the plate. We have to get engaged,' " Patricelli said during a wide-ranging interview with the Hartford Business Journal, where he was joined by Smith, who is still Webster Bank's non-executive chairman.
Smith said he, too, felt a responsibility to play a more active role in a policy debate that could shape Connecticut's fortunes. And it's a role he'd like to play outside elected office.
"It wasn't 'we know the answer, let's get together and provide it,' " Smith said. "It was 'we have a responsibility to try to make a difference if we can.' "
Such blue-ribbon panels are not new in Connecticut; what makes this particular commission unique was that it was formed at the behest of some of the state's top CEOs, a group that in the past shied away from public discussions on policy for fear of upsetting the political establishment, or possibly shareholders.
"I'm sure that was weighed by folks before they agreed to do it," said Joseph Brennan, CEO of the Connecticut Business & Industry Association, the state's largest business lobbying group. "It's more a question of the times we're in right now that people are willing to take those risks that maybe they wouldn't have taken in the past."
A copy of Trump's infrastructure plan just reportedly leaked — here's what's in it
A purported draft of the yet-to-be-released White House plan to overhaul U.S. infrastructure was published by Axios on Monday.
The leaked document is six pages long and contains no specific dollar amounts for any of the initiatives introduced.
The White House signaled in December that infrastructure would be the next issue to conquer after the passage of a massive tax overhaul at the end of 2017.
"We are not going to comment on the contents of a leaked document but look forward to presenting our plan in the near future," White House spokeswoman Lindsay Walters told CNBC.
The specifics could change by the time the White House releases a formal proposal. Here are some highlights from the document as published by Axios:- Half of the appropriations in the leaked plan will go toward an "infrastructure incentives" program giving federal grants to state, local or private entities. Grant awards can cover up to 20 percent of the total cost of the infrastructure plan, according to the document.
- Ten percent of the plan's funds would go to a so-called Transformative Projects Program that finances "exploratory and ground-breaking ideas that have more risk than standard infrastructure projects but offer a larger reward profile."
- Through the Transformative Projects Program, the federal government would pay for up to 80 percent of capital construction costs, as well as 30 percent of demonstration trials and 50 percent of post-demonstration planning costs.
- Twenty-five percent of the funds would be put toward a Rural Infrastructure Program, which could be used to bring high-speed internet to rural areas, among other applications.