Longshoremen back at work at State Pier
Greg Smith
New London ― Longshoremen went back to work at State Pier on
Thursday, ending a three-day strike against Danish energy company Ørsted
despite an unresolved dispute about work jurisdiction at the offshore wind hub.
As a result, crews at State Pier on Friday were expected to
continue work loading the 330-foot long wind turbine blades and accompanying
wind turbine components onto an awaiting barge headed to the waters of Long
Island, where Ørsted’s South Fork Wind project is located.
About 30 longshoremen are performing work at State Pier
side-by-side with contracted union members from the building trades.
The issues that led to the strike and protests outside the
gates of State Pier earlier this week, however, remain unresolved.
While most of the separation of work jurisdictions between
the two unions is undisputed, longshoremen have pushed to secure jobs operating
the 500-foot-tall cranes and mobile transports used to move the wind turbine
parts around the pier.
That work is performed by Operating Engineers and part of
the project labor agreement secured between Ørsted and the building trades.
The ILA contends that work historically has gone ILA members
and thinks Ørsted got it wrong when they trained and signed an agreement with
the Operating Engineers, said Jim Paylor, assistant general organizer for the
ILA and co-chair of that group’s offshore wind committee.
Prior to work starting at State Pier, Paylor said, the ILA
had repeatedly asked Ørsted for updates on what type of training might be
needed for ILA members to be able to work in its role of loading and
off-loading material at the port.
The Operating Engineers were among union members in the
building trades that were forced to rent a bus and call in support from law
enforcement to get through ILA picket lines on Tuesday.
Keith Brothers, president of the Connecticut State Building
Trades Council, whose membership includes a variety of union workers with a
labor agreement for construction and assembly work at State Pier, said the two
sides were back at work together on Thursday but said the future remains
unclear.
He said members of the Operating Engineers union will
continue to operate the specialized cranes used to lift and place the massive
wind turbine parts onto barges until they are told otherwise.
“We’re doing work in our jurisdiction and they’re doing
theirs,” Brothers said.
Brothers called it a “bad situation for everybody,” when
union members have to cross picket lines to get to work. But the building
trades unions have a construction project labor agreement in place and the
licensed operating engineers are the ones trained and qualified to run those
cranes, Brothers said.
“That’s kind of where the disagreement is,” Brothers said.
“It hasn’t been resolved and how it gets resolved I’m not sure. That’s a
national question that the two sides need to figure out, come to a compromise
or this will keep going on and on.”
And while Brothers thinks there may be a compromise to be
had with running the mobile transports on site, he said he thinks the cranes
are a “different story.”
“Those guys that run those rigs are 20- and 30-year members
of the union,” Brothers said. “You don’t just take a class and run the crane.
It’s not that easy — not something you can just jump into and perform the
work.”
Peter Olsen, ILA Local 1411 business manager and spokesman,
in an interview on Tuesday, said ILA workers have evolved and adapted to new
technology for the past century and the new equipment being brought in from
overseas for the new offshore wind hubs is no different.
Reached on Friday, Olsen declined to comment on the ongoing
situation between the ILA and Ørsted but confirmed longshoremen were back at
work.
In a statement, a spokesperson for Ørsted did not comment on
the status of talks with the ILA.
“Loadout activities are underway today, with the full South
Fork Wind team including ILA members on the job,” the statement reads. “We
expect to ship South Fork Wind’s first wind turbine out to the offshore project
site in the coming days.”
State Pier in New London becomes launching pad for offshore wind projects after months of delays
After months of delays and one final labor-related hold up,
the newly-renovated State Pier in New London is set to begin work this weekend
as a launching pad for offshore wind projects in the Atlantic Ocean.
A barge laden with three gigantic blades — each weighing
over 40 tons — along with tower sections and nacelle housing to complete the
turbines, will set sail from the pier into the Thames River as early as
Saturday, officials said, en route to the South Fork Wind site off the coast
of Montauk on Long Island.
“The components are on the site right now, and work is
taking place on the assembly of those components,” said Ulysses Hammond, the
interim executive director of the Connecticut Port Authority, which oversees
the pier.
Hammond said that roughly three-quarters of the site have
been turned over to Gateway Terminal, which will manage activity at the pier
over the next decade, including loading and unloading parts for offshore wind
turbines.
The remaining construction work at the pier, which includes
dredging and the completion of a retaining wall, is on track to be finished by
the end of this year, Hammond said.
In the meantime, crews at the pier will begin shipping out
pieces of turbines destined for South Fork Wind, which began development
earlier this year with the construction of underwater
foundations and cables to carry 132 megawatts of electricity to New
York State.
Once fully assembled, each of South Fork’s 12 turbines will
stand taller than the Statue of Liberty, with the diameter of the blades
stretching longer than a Columbia-class submarine.
Final preparations for the first voyage were delayed by
several days this week due to a strike by local longshoreman who accused the
project’s Danish developer, Ørsted, of failing to provide necessary training to
handle the special equipment used to load and offload turbine parts.
Ørsted is involved in eight
different offshore wind projects along the eastern seaboard from
Maryland to Rhode Island.
“The (International Longshoremen’s Association), trying to
get their point across, has picked New London since that’s sort of the first
area that we’re shipping wind turbines out of,” said Peter Olsen, the business
agent for ILA Local 1411 in New London.
After walking off the job Monday, Olsen said that members of
the local agreed to return to work on Thursday, while talks continued between
national union leaders and Ørsted. Karl-Erik Stromsta, a spokesman for Ørsted,
described those conversations as “productive” on Friday.
“Loadout activities are underway today, with the full South
Fork Wind team including ILA members on the job” Stromsta said in an email on
Friday. “We expect to ship South Fork Wind’s first wind turbine out to the
offshore site in the coming days.
Members of the union had been out of work since 2019, when
the Connecticut Port Authority closed the pier to begin its redevelopment into
a hub for offshore wind, including a trio projects slated for development by
Eversource and Ørsted.
Since then, the cost of the overhaul has ballooned from its
initial $93 million estimate, to
a price tag of over $300 million. The project has also suffered
delays, issues driving massive pilings into the riverbed, and allegations
of self-dealing in bidding contracts by the construction manager,
Kiewit Corporation.
The market for offshore wind projects has also shifted
drastically as work got underway on the pier.
Eversource announced earlier this year that it would seek to
get out of the offshore
wind business and sell its 50 percent stake in the three projects tied
to the state pier — South Fork Wind, Revolution Wind and Sunrise Wind.
A fourth project under development elsewhere in Connecticut,
Park City Wind, was scrapped
altogether this month by Avangrid, the Orange-based utility, when they
pulled out of their contract with the state.
In response to those challenges, Gov. Ned Lamont announced
this month that Connecticut would enter
into a partnership with Rhode Island and Massachusetts to procure
offshore wind contracts supplying power to the region. Still, it will likely
take years before those contracts are inked and construction gets underway on
additional projects.
Gateway’s 10-year sublease of the State Pier allows for
other shipping activities to take place at the site when it is not being used
by Eversource and Ørsted for offshore wind projects.
Avangrid avoids $1 billion write-off after ending plans to build CT's Park City Wind farm
Avangrid reported Thursday that in canceling
its Park City Wind farm for Connecticut, it sidestepped more than $1
billion in write-offs as projected costs outstripped revenue it expected under
a power purchase agreement with the state.
Avangrid, a subsidiary of Spain-based Iberdrola, has
its headquarters in Orange. Avangrid's subsidiaries include United
Illuminating, which owns power lines that provide electricity in the Bridgeport
and New Haven metropolitan areas. UI sued
the state in September after regulators denied a rate increase it had
sought.
Avangrid also owns Central Maine Power, which has its
headquarters in Auburn where officials issued a "shelter in place"
advisory after the overnight mass shootings in adjacent Lewiston. Just
after 9 a.m. on Thursday, CMP alerted customers it would coordinate with local
law enforcement in responding to any outages Thursday morning.
"We have many Central Maine Power employees in Lewiston
and all over Maine who are likely severely impacted by this horrible act of
senseless violence," said Avangrid CEO Pedro Azagra, speaking Thursday
morning on a conference call with investment analysts. "We are monitoring
the situation very closely and we are prepared to provide every resource
available to our employees and our affected communities. Our hearts and
thoughts from all of us at CMP, Avangrid and Iberdrola are with the
Lewiston community in this difficult time."
Avangrid unilaterally pulled the plug on the Park City Wind
farm several weeks ago, as the cost of construction outstripped revenue
projections from a power purchase agreement with the state of Connecticut. The
companies had aimed to start construction by 2026.
In August, Avangrid restarted construction of a
transmission line through Maine to feed electricity to the New England grid
from hydropower plants in Canada, after a court decision in its favor. At 1,200
megawatts, the New England Clean Energy Connect lines would deliver 50 percent
more power than Park City Wind at optimal wind conditions.
Avangrid calculated a $181 million gain last year as a
result of restructuring Park City Wind and a second project called Commonwealth
Wind it tabled for Massachusetts, with the company paying termination fees for
both projects this year. Avangrid's third-quarter profits totaled $59 million.
With components already purchased for the nearby Vineyard
Wind farm off the southern New England coast, Avangrid is pushing ahead
with that project. On Wednesday it reported two turbines are already completed
that will begin providing power to Massachusetts customers this year, and that
more than a third of the "monopile" foundations — steel tubes driven
into the seabed to support the towers above — have been installed. On
Wednesday, Avangrid reported it raised $1.2 billion in financing via a tax
equity package on Vineyard Wind, backed by JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and
Wells Fargo.
Officials from Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island
are now huddling to bring new developers to the table with a joint proposal for
new wind farms off the southern New England coast.
Gov. Ned Lamont and fellow Northeast governors asked the
Biden administration in September for a determination on whether more money
from the Inflation Reduction Act can be used to help offset the higher cost of
offshore wind farm construction, with more than a dozen in the works from New
Jersey to Maine, including Park City Wind and Revolution Wind to provide power
to Connecticut.
Azagra said the original power purchase agreement with
Connecticut put the company at too much risk, given escalating costs for
components it had yet to purchase for Park City Wind, which would be staged
from Bridgeport. The company retains lease rights to the site where Park City
Wind was to have been built, with Avangrid not having ruled out pushing ahead
if it can obtain better terms under any future auctions for power purchase
agreements.
"We're not going to put in danger the financial health
of the company — that's it," Azagra said Thursday morning. "You see
the new auctions — are we going to participate? Let's see."
Orsted indicated this month it remains on track to begin
construction of Revolution Wind, which would generate power for both
Connecticut and Rhode Island, although an ongoing longshoreman's strike in New
London could disrupt its timeline for construction of the South Fork Wind Farm
for New York. Eversource, which has dual headquarters in Hartford and
Boston, announced plans earlier this year to sell its stake in Revolution Wind,
with no deal having been announced as of Thursday.
This week, New York reached an agreement on the construction
of three new wind farms — on the heels of New
Jersey reporting similar success — including one to be financed by
Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, Avangrid's former co-developer for Park
City Wind.
On Thursday, Agraza praised New York and Maine officials for
approving overall electricity rates for transmission utilities it operates in
the two states, with Agraza drawing contrast to the company's standoff in
its home state of Connecticut over a ruling by the state Public Utilities
Regulatory Authority limiting rates for United Illuminating.
"I think the things right now are meeting legislators,
executive branch, public advocates, attorney generals, investors, rating
agencies, public commissions — nonstop," Azagra said. "We need to
basically turn around the dynamics that we have, right now, in
Connecticut."
This story has been update to reflect that Avangrid is the
sole developer of Park City Wind and that it recorded a $181 million 2022 on
the restructuring of both Park City Wind and Commonwealth Wind.
Demolition ceremony at Torrington Co.’s Standard Plant marks end of era, new beginning
Jack Sheedy
TORRINGTON – Decades ago, the sounds of machinery inside the Torrington Co.’s Standard Plant were the sounds of ball bearings or bicycle parts being stamped out. For the next several months, machinery sounds emanating from 23 of 26 of those buildings bordering North, Prospect, North Elm and Norwood streets will be from heavy demolition equipment taking the buildings apart from the inside out.
“By nature, we are builders and creators,” said
Mayor Elinor C. Carbone at a ceremony Oct. 26 outside the landmark site
that sits on more than 9 acres in the city’s north end.
“These buildings have served this community
well,” Carbone said to the gathering of more than 50 people. “However, we
know that it’s time to retire them and rebuild, innovate and recreate this next
generation of technology that will once again support this community.”
The demolition is being conducted by Manafort Brothers
Inc. of Plainville. It will set the stage for “a brighter, more sustainable
future that will bring fresh opportunities and prosperity to our community,”
according to a press release from Rista Malanca, director of economic
development for the City of Torrington.
To help finance the estimated $4 million demolition project,
a $2
million Brownfield Remediation Grant was allocated by the state
Department of Economic and Community Development for Torrington Standard LLC,
owner of the property at 70 North St.
The Torrington Co. evolved in 1898 from the Excelsior
Needle Co., which was organized in 1866 and manufactured sewing machine
needles. The first building for the Torrington Co.’s Standard Plant was
built in the early 20th century, according to Glenn Carbone, operations manager
for IRG Realty Advisors LLC, representing Torrington Standard.
“You haven’t been able to see from (North Elm Street) to
this street (North Street) since 1904,” he said. “Imagine what that footprint’s
going to look like.”
He said the demolition will take several months to complete,
clearing the site for small manufacturers and retail businesses.
In 1969, Ingersoll-Rand, Inc. acquired Torrington Co.’s
name and business, and in 2003 it was sold to the Timken Co. Timken
ceased operations in Torrington in 2006, signaling an imminent end to the
Torrington Co.’s operations here.
State Rep. Michelle Cook, D-Torrington, told the gathering,
“I believe that the brick and mortar behind us is who we are as a community.
And when (the company) left, we saw our community change. … Just as they
built these buildings brick by brick, they will take them down brick by brick,
to start a new part of our community.”
Cook said, “Raise your hand if you worked here, family
member worked here, or knew somebody that worked here.” Nearly everyone raised
a hand.
Gary Greenstein, vice president and senior portfolio
manager at IRG, told Hearst CT Media that the rundown buildings at 70 North St.
are “ugly, old and kind of useless.” But, he added, “we’re ready to take it
down and hopefully see a new chapter on this old, kind of obsolete area here.”
Speaking to the gathering, Greenstein said IRG focuses
on “adaptive reuse” of “sites like this that had a past and a history and
that’s changed.”
Torrington resident Stephen Byrne said he worked as a
millwright display maker in the Standard Plant for about 30 years. “It’s sad,”
he said of the demolition. “When I left, it was the end of everything, so this
is just a physical ending.… It’s a loss of community.”
Emily-Catherine Madia said her grandfather worked at
the Standard Plant, and every time she drives by, she calls out his name. “It’s
sad but exciting, because I know that the land is not going to just be wasted,”
she said.
Northwest Connecticut Chamber of Commerce CEO JoAnn
Ryan told Hearst CT Media that the demolition represents a “historic moment”
and added, “We are so absolutely thrilled that the Chamber of Commerce, which
represents the whole region, has a beautiful office in the former Excelsior
Plant,” a former Torrington Co. building on nearby Field Street, which will be
spared the wrecking ball. “It was one of the best moves we ever made as a
chamber.”
Joseph M. Pathe was an industrial engineer who worked
at Torrington Co. from 1964 to 2007. “It’s kind of sad, because when I started,
over 3,000 people worked in the Torrington Company in Torrington,” he said.
“When we left, there was only 12 of us.”
A few concrete blocks and bricks from the ongoing demolition
were piled near the podium. Pathe was invited to join Cook and Carbone in
swinging sledgehammers at the rubble. The gesture symbolized both an end and a
beginning.
With a lawsuit roadblock nearly settled, Stamford-based
developer RMS Cos. plans to soon launch a 228-unit apartment building and
parking garage development just off the southwest corner of Hartford’s Dunkin’
Park minor league baseball stadium.
Following
this week’s announced $9.9 million legal settlement related to the initial
construction of Dunkin’ Park — a court case that has delayed
development around the stadium — RMS Cos. CEO and President Randy Salvatore
said he wants to shift more than $13 million in public funding recently
diverted to a plan to buy and redevelop the nearby Rensselaer Polytechnic
Institute campus in Hartford, back to development around the ballpark.
“It makes more sense to continue the momentum around the
ballpark,” Salvatore said. “We are really shifting gears back to that now, and
we hope to break ground by the end of the year.”
Salvatore said he continues to negotiate an agreement to buy
the 12.7-acre RPI campus on Windsor Street, a deal he hopes to close by the end
of this year.
Salvatore said he is also working with the Capital Region
Development Authority to refine financing details of the delayed North Crossing
project. North Crossing is the name given to development around Dunkin’ Park,
which is home to the Hartford Yard Goats minor league baseball team.
In 2020, Hartford entered into an agreement allowing RMS to
build blocks of apartment buildings and parking garages on city-owned lots
around what was then a 3-year-old stadium. The plan was to build up to 1,000
apartments in successive projects.
RMS completed the first, 270-unit complex in 2022, and had
planned to roll right into construction of a 228-unit building and a parking
garage on a 5-acre parcel — known as “Parcel B” — before the close of this
year.
Before ground could be broken, however, the state Supreme
Court revived a lawsuit by Centerplan Construction Co. and DoNo Hartford. A few
years earlier, the city had fired the related companies, overseen by developer
Robert Landino, from development of the ballpark and nearby surrounding lots
due to project delays and cost overruns.
The lawsuit claims Centerplan and DoNO were unfairly
dismissed, and that DoNo Hartford has ongoing rights to develop the city-owned
lots.
On Thursday, Mayor Luke Bronin announced a $9.9 million
settlement intended to spare the city millions of dollars in additional legal
costs, the potential of an unfavorable court decision and further delays of the
highly sought development.
“I just think it’s great news and a testament to Mayor
(Luke) Bronin’s leadership and ability to negotiate this,” Salvatore said. “It
just clears the way for the future.”
While the Centerplan/DoNo lawsuit gummed up development
around the ballpark, Salvatore
negotiated for a potential purchase of the nearby RPI campus. The plan
was to build a 269-unit apartment building and associated parking garage on a
portion of the RPI property, with more development to follow in later phases.
To help fund the first phase of the RPI development, the
Capital Region Development Authority and state Bond Commission this fall
authorized the use of $13.6 million in previously approved funding for the
stalled second phase of North Crossing, as well as $3 million approved for
another aborted project in Hartford.
The legal settlement is expected to gain approval from
Hartford’s City Council on Monday. Salvatore, on Friday, said he plans to shift
his focus — and the public funding — back to the far more advanced second phase
of North Crossing.
CRDA Executive Director Michael Freimuth said shifting $13.6
million back to the next phase of the North Crossing would still leave $3
million to rebuild financing for the RPI project.
Salvatore said that if and when he completes the RPI
property purchase, he will immediately launch into an estimated six- to
eight-month demolition of the campus.
Salvatore said he still expects to build 1,000 apartment
units on the North Crossing properties. He said the RPI campus could ultimately
host an equal number of apartments, although there is much planning still to be
done.
Salvatore said he doesn’t expect the shifting of the public
funds to impact the RPI purchase.