How CT can save an offshore wind project that could power 350K homes
NEW LONDON — Days after President Donald Trump halted
an offshore wind development designed to help power Connecticut as
soon as next year, Gov. Ned Lamont outlined two possible paths toward
saving the project.
The first, Lamont said, is to speak with Trump
administration officials, including some the governor has sought
to maintain a friendly relationship with, and impress upon them the
importance of Revolution Wind, an ambitious offshore wind farm that is already
about 80% complete.
"We've had some preliminary conversations," Lamont
said at a news conference Monday. "I think some of the key facets of the
federal government were taken by surprise by this decision as well, so we're
trying to get all the players together."
Lamont specifically mentioned Secretary of Energy Chris
Wright and Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, both of whom he met with in
Washington, D.C. earlier this year.
Asked whether he expects these appeals to work, Lamont
paused and grimaced.
"You never quite know with this administration,"
he said. "But I think there's a deal to be had, and I've got to see what
the ask is."
If that approach fails, Lamont said, the second option to to
sue the Trump administration, as Connecticut has in numerous
other instances. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, who joined Lamont and other
officials in New London on Monday, said he expects a lawsuit to resume the
project would be successful.
"It is nuts, crazy, insane to stop a project that is
80% completed and will save hundreds of millions of dollars for
consumers," Blumenthal said. "It is also blatantly illegal, lawless
and reckless."
The Trump administration's stated reason for halting the
project was to "address concerns related to the protection of national
security interests of the United States." Federal officials have not
specified what the national security concerns are.
Sen. Chris Murphy, among others, cast doubt on that
explanation Monday, noting Trump has often expressed a distaste for wind
energy, which he has called
"the scam of the century."
"This isn't about national security," Murphy said.
"This is a decision about politics. The President of the United States has
pledged his loyalty to the oil and gas industry, plain and simple."
Revolution Wind, which cleared years of federal and state
reviews before construction began in 2023, is expected to be Connecticut and
Rhode Island's first large offshore wind farm, capable of powering more than
350,000 homes. It would provide power at a rate of 9.8 cents per kilowatt hour,
cheaper than the average cost of electricity in New England.
The project has employed hundreds of unionized workers in
Connecticut, some of whose jobs could be threatened if work doesn't resume
soon. Keith Brothers, president of the Connecticut State Building and
Construction Trades Council, said some crews have already been sent home, as
others have shifted to on-shore work.
"Let us finish what we started," Brothers said at
the news conference. "Let us go back to work."
In addition to consequences for workers, a pause or
cancellation of Revolution Wind could come at a price for Connecticut
households already dealing with surges in energy prices. The project was
supposed to offer a reliable energy source beginning next year, bringing down
costs for residents statewide.
Though Trump has stated a desire for the U.S. to move toward
energy independence, he has generally opposed renewable energy, which he blames
for rising electric costs, while dismantling the
federal government's capacity to regulate greenhouse gases in an effort to
fight climate change.
Still, state officials had been under the impression
Revolution Wind would be permitted to continue, given how far along
construction was. Lamont said Monday he was "shocked" last Friday to
learn the Trump administration had ordered work to stop.
"We've had a lot of conversations down in Washington,
D.C.," the governor said. "I talked about this with the President and
the Secretary of Energy and the Secretary of Interior, and we don't agree on
everything, but there was a strong sense that we wanted more American based
power."
Lamont said he didn't know why the administration had
changed its position or what Trump might want in return for allowing
construction to resume.
Asked whether, in a worst-case scenario, Revolution Wind
could sit idle for four years until a new administration takes over in
Washington, the governor said that was "the worst idea I've heard all
day."
Lamont Open to Deal with Trump to Restart Stalled Wind Project
NEW LONDON — Gov. Ned Lamont said Monday he expects to make
a deal with the federal government to revive the Revolution Wind offshore wind
project, which was ordered to be halted
last week, citing unspecified national security concerns.
“I feel very confident that this is such a dumb decision,
it’s going to get fixed,” Lamont said at a joint press conference at New
London’s State Pier with federal lawmakers, and state and local officials. “You
never quite know with this administration, but I think there’s a deal to be
had. And I got to see what the ask is.”
Shortly after Lamont’s comment, U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy took
a less conciliatory stance and stressed that the President Donald Trump did not
have the legal authority to suspend a project that had been permitted.
“You don’t have to pledge political loyalty to the president
of the United States in order to build wind power in this country,” Murphy
said. “We all have to be really careful about doing trades with this president
that could send this country down a really dangerous anti-democratic rabbit
hole.”
The conference sought to send a unified political message in
Connecticut to the Trump administration’s decision to halt the wind project,
which is in an advanced stage and scheduled to begin production next year. The
project would supply 700 megawatts, enough to power 350,000 homes in Rhode
Island and Connecticut.
Revolution Wind would be the second project completed at New
London’s State Pier, which was redeveloped as a platform for the offshore wind
industry and has drawn criticism due to escalating costs. The project’s budget
has ballooned from $93 million to $311 million, with an ongoing
dispute over soil issues beneath part of the platform that could drive
costs even higher.
The first project, South Fork Wind, began production last
year to supply energy to New York State.
‘Scam of the century’
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management said it ordered
the project to be halted Friday in order to “address concerns”
regarding the protection of national security interests.
But everyone present at the conference considered it as a
political move aligned with Trump’s aversion to wind energy, which he called
“the scam of the century” on Truth
Social last Wednesday.
“This president is committed to destroying renewable energy
and to powering this country only on oil and gas to please and help his
friends,” Murphy said. “I’m not going to pretend that this decision is on the
level. It’s not. And that’s why we’ll ultimately likely prevail, because the
law is on our side.”
Last April, the Trump administration also halted the Empire
Wind project in New York. It resumed a month later after an agreement with
Gov. Kathy Hochul.
While Lamont said he was confident the Revolution Wind issue
would be settled soon, he did not rule out legal action.
U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal said the decision was
“blatantly illegal.”
“The administration will lose if there is a legal challenge,
but in the meantime, consumers will lose,” Blumenthal said. “And that is the
result of an administration stance on wind power that is truly reckless and
irrational.”
Blumenthal questioned the lack of clarity for why the
federal government decided to halt the project.
“They say there are national security interests here. Come
clean, reveal them, and if you can’t do it in public, give us a briefing in
private. We have top secret clearance,” Blumenthal said. “They have offered no
facts to justify this lawless, reckless decision.”
‘Let us finish what we started’
The Revolution Wind project was being built 15 miles off the
coast of Rhode Island and was at an advanced stage, with all underwater
foundations and 45 of the 65 turbines installed.
State Department of Energy and Environmental Protection
Commissioner Katie Dykes said the project had obtained permits after a
nine-year process.
“It’s been very thoroughly vetted across two administrations
to get us to the point where it is today, where there’s work going on in the
water,” she said.
Dykes said the project would provide 2.5% of New England’s
energy needs next year and that there were no identifiable substitutes for that
energy supply in the event of an outage.
“Right now, we are at high risk of power outages if we
experience heat waves or extreme winter weather that could overload our grid,”
she said. “Offshore wind is a very important resource that helps keep the
lights on during those peak energy consumption periods.”
On Monday, ISO New England, the organization that manages
the region’s electric system, issued a statement warning
that delays to the project could threaten reliability.
Keith Brothers, president of the Connecticut State Building
and Construction Trades Council, emphasized that State Pier jobs were
high-quality positions with good wages, health and retirement benefits.
“Let us finish what we started,” Brothers said.
The project received permit approval in November 2023. It
was initially a joint venture between Ørsted, which is 50% owned by the Danish
government, and Eversource. Ørsted reported that
it expected to begin operations by the middle of next year after last week’s
federal government order.
The Trump administration’s decision adds pressure to a
sector that experienced difficulties in previous years.
In 2023, Avangrid canceled the
Park City Wind contract in Connecticut, and Ørsted also canceled its contracts
in New York, New Jersey and Maryland. The sector as a whole suffered setbacks
in 2023, with projects canceled or delayed despite federal support and
incentives from the Inflation Reduction Act.
In 2024, Eversource sold its stake in Revolution Wind to
Global Infrastructure Partners, a company owned by BlackRock, the world’s
largest asset manager. Late last year, Connecticut pulled
out of the tri-state auction it had announced with much fanfare a year
earlier.
In early August, Ørsted asked shareholders for the
equivalent of $9.4 billion to boost its finances and cope with Trump’s policies
opposed to wind power, sinking its shares to
their lowest level since 2018. On Monday, shares plunged again by more than
15%.
Legal uncertainty and the loss of federal government support
left the State Pier’s future in limbo and raised doubts about other planned
projects, such as Sunrise Wind. Owned by Ørsted, Sunrise Wind is planned to
supply 924 megawatts to New York state.
State Pier’s future
When Michael O’Connor became executive director of the
Connecticut Port Authority in January, he said he hoped rising costs at
State Pier would no longer dominate headlines. But months later, controversy
persisted — fueled by debates over the pier’s future and criticism of turning
it into a hub for an industry currently under threat.
After the Monday press conference, O’Connor said he didn’t
see the need to assess the federal government’s potential impact on State Pier
yet.
“You understand why it would be hard to figure that out in
five minutes,” he said.
O’Connor declined to comment on the contract status for the
State Pier redevelopment, the work still to be completed or the final cost.
Port Authority Chairman Paul Whitescarver confirmed they
were not yet assessing Trump’s decision’s impact.
“There’s a line of ships out here that are still coming in
with pieces and parts. We’re almost full. You got blades, you got pedestals,
you got nacelles. There’s still a lot of work to do here,“ he said. ”I’m going
to be optimistic.”
Withescraver said he was not currently concerned about the
situation but acknowledged it could be a cause for worry after 2027. In the
future, he said, offshore wind might not be the only option.
“You can do lots of different things here. You could bring
all sorts of different types of cargo,“ he said. ”Even before we had Ørsted
here, we used to bring in lumber, we used to bring in iron. Now that you have
this platform, you can do roll-on and roll-off cars. This is just the start,
right?”
Kevin Blacker, a staunch critic of the project, said the
political situation with Trump was “entirely foreseeable.”
“Offshore wind only works with government subsidies and
political mandates. So it’s very open to threat from political change,” Blacker
said. “Betting our whole port on such a use is risky and it’s a foreseeable
risk that everybody was warned about.”
Blacker also questioned the argument that State Pier could
be used for other purposes besides offshore wind.
“I don’t care what those liars [the Connecticut Port
Authority] say. The State Pier was purpose-built for offshore wind. That’s why
it was so expensive,” he said. “It’s like trying to use a lawnmower as a
snowblower. You could do it, but it’s just not what it was designed for.”
Connecticut’s DOT Launches Redevelopment, Housing for Stamford’s Train Station
STAMFORD – The last time the Department of Transportation
went into business with private developers to remake the Stamford train
station, commuters revolted, the mayor objected, and one of the developers got
indicted.
Thirteen years later, the DOT is trying again.
This month the agency issued a request for proposals from
developers who would be interested in moving and reconstructing the aging train
station, reconfiguring some of the tracks, and building a large housing complex
with ground-floor retail and possibly office or hotel space.
This time, like last time, the DOT sounds as much like a
development agency as a transportation agency.
The issuance of a request for proposals is a major step in
the DOT’s “initiative to reimagine the (train station) as a modern, multi-modal
transportation hub integrated with vibrant transit-oriented development,” the
agency’s website states.
Transit-oriented development, or TOD, is a planning strategy
that
calls for high-density housing and business centers within
walking distance of public transportation.
“By reimagining this property, we can deliver new housing,
enhanced transit amenities, and commercial and retail spaces that will serve
residents and visitors for decades to come,” DOT Commissioner Garrett Eucalitto
said on the agency’s website.
The announcement mixes messages about the need for a new
Stamford train station – it’s the busiest stop on Metro-North Commuter Railroad
after Grand Central Terminal in Manhattan – and an aim to make money building
housing, Stamford’s most lucrative commodity.
The Stamford transportation center serves 5.5 million rail
and bus passengers each year, according to the DOT. It needs significant
upgrades “to meet the demands of a growing population and future transit
expansions, including anticipated service increases from Metro-North and
Amtrak,” the website states.
But the DOT’s vision is twofold – “to create a world-class
transportation center” while at the same time “fostering economic growth,” the
agency’s website states.
The DOT is seeking “proposals that blend transit
improvements with mixed-use development” of the 11 acres the state owns on
Station Place, according to the website. “Preferred transit-oriented
developments include primarily multi-family residential buildings,” it states.
In 2012, when the DOT finally took on the task of replacing
the Stamford train station parking garage that had been falling apart for 30
years, agency officials issued a request for proposals. Then, as now, they were
interested in more than transportation. They sought a public-private
partnership for building a residential and commercial complex.
The 2012 request for proposals stated that, in deciding
which developer to choose, the DOT would give two-thirds weight to how much
revenue the proposal could generate for the DOT.
Then-Commissioner Jim Redeker said the DOT’s 11 acres on
Station Place were the most valuable real estate in Connecticut.
The winning bid in 2013 proposed building a $500 million,
1-million-square-foot housing, office, retail and hotel complex beside the
train station, and moving the commuter parking garage a quarter-mile away.
Commuters were enraged, saying the DOT was monetizing a
public resource vital to their livelihoods and the Stamford economy, and doing
it using tens of millions in public funding.
Then-Mayor David Martin chastised the DOT for its lack of
attention to the choking traffic congestion around the Stamford station, and
for leaving the city out of the planning.
Then there were the problems behind the scenes.
Redeker struck a deal with millionaire developer John
McClutchy, at the time a Darien resident and owner of JHM Group of Companies.
McClutchy formed a partnership, Stamford Manhattan Development Ventures, made
up of his group, ECCO III Enterprises, Gilbane Development Co. and Ciminelli
Real Estate Corp. Another Ciminelli company, L.P. Ciminelli Construction, was
to be the builder.
McClutchy’s proposal included 600,000 square feet of office
space, 60,000 square feet of retail, 150 hotel rooms, and 150 housing units.
But nothing happened for three years. Then Gilbane dropped
out. Then Louis Ciminelli, head of Ciminelli Construction, and two of his
executives were charged in a bid-rigging and bribery scheme involving an
economic revitalization project in upstate New York.
The DOT’s train station project fell apart.
This time, the DOT is better prepared.
The agency built a new garage on South State Street,
connected it to the train station with a covered walkway over Washington
Boulevard, and last year demolished the dilapidated garage on Station
Place.
So the stage is set for a new plan for the DOT’s most
valuable real estate.
Agency spokesman Josh Morgan said Friday that at least 20
percent of however many housing units are built at the train station must be
affordable. The percentage is a minimum requirement set by the Connecticut
Department of Economic and Community Development, Morgan said.
“It could be more than 20 percent,” Morgan said. “We have to
see what proposals come in.”
Developers must submit their proposals to the DOT by Dec. 5,
and the agency expects to execute pre-development agreements by the end of
February.
But the concern over congestion, raised by former Mayor
Martin a dozen years ago, remains, and in fact appears to have grown.
Last year the DOT released a Stamford train station master
plan that included a congestion study. It noted 14 projects within a
quarter-mile of the train station that were recently completed, under
construction, or approved – a total of 2,500 housing units.
Now there are more.
One is The Hazel on John Street, with 183 residential units;
another is a 395-unit apartment building at 18 Dock St.
And there is potential for even more.
The owners of 15 parcels bordered by Atlantic, Pacific,
Manhattan and Dock streets formed a consortium called Stamford Manhattan
Transit Group and are pitching the land – an acre and a quarter in total – to a
developer interested in building an apartment high-rise. The spot is zoned for
maximum density. Whatever is built will stand next door to the train station.