PURA lifts fines against United Illuminating to remediate old English Station plant
Cleanup of the long-abandoned English Station power plant in New Haven may take longer after the state’s Public Utilities Regulatory Authority removed financial penalties previously imposed on United Illuminating.
The decision comes as the city is gathering community input
on plans that could eventually transform the waterfront property into a public park and recreational space.
English Station, a massive former power plant along the Mill
River in the Fair Haven neighborhood, has sat vacant for decades and requires
environmental remediation before redevelopment can move forward.
New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker said PURA’s decision removes
a key pressure point that had pushed United Illuminating to address
contamination at the site.
“The reality is, PURA by removing this fine, takes a lot of
pressure off of UI because it’s a significant fine that UI was going to receive
for many years,” Elicker said.
A judge in 2023 ordered United Illuminating to pay a $2
million annual penalty for every year the company failed to clean up English
Station.
PURA has now withdrawn that penalty, saying it will instead
reassess the company’s compliance during its next rate case.
In its written decision, the authority said it wanted to
ensure the costs associated with the penalties were not ultimately passed on to
utility customers.
The move drew criticism from Connecticut Attorney General
William Tong, who said the decision undermines accountability.
“PURA is now turning its back entirely on accountability for
UI’s repeated failures to remediate dangerous contamination at English Station
in New Haven,” Tong said in a statement.
Despite the setback, Elicker said the city still plans to
pursue ownership of the property to move redevelopment forward.
If negotiations with the current owner fail, he said the
city could pursue eminent domain.
“If we’re unable to come to an agreement with the property
owner, we don’t want to but we’re prepared to take it by eminent domain,”
Elicker said.
City officials are continuing discussions with residents
about potentially building a waterfront park and public pool at the site —
amenities Elicker said are currently limited in the area.
“Right now you have to pay a lot of money to go to an
outdoor pool in the New Haven area because you have to be a member of some
club, and in my view that’s not something that’s good for everybody in our
community,” he said.
Some residents say they support replacing the deteriorating
plant with something that benefits the neighborhood.
Xavier Reyes, who passes the site daily on his way to work,
said he likes the idea of a park and pool replacing the abandoned site.
“I heard about the water park and pool area. I think that’s
a lot better than what we have now. It will bring more people to the area,”
Reyes said.
Reyes added that the proposed park would complement the
surrounding Fair Haven neighborhood, which already includes nearby green space
and waterfront views.
“We have the park right here, the bridge, everything is nice
except for that,” he said.
NBC Connecticut contacted United Illuminating for a
response.
CT overhauls environmental cleanup rules to spur redevelopment
Maysoon Khan
Situated just minutes from Waterbury’s downtown is an old,
abandoned former factory complex. It dates back to the city’s manufacturing
heyday. Companies churned out metal hoses there and other goods.
The site has languished for decades. What remains is
concrete, a brick warehouse, a smaller structure beside it and environmental
contamination.
In 2017, a redevelopment entity created by the city and the
Waterbury Development Corporation (WDC) bought the property. It has invested
nearly $3 million so far on cleanup.
“They’re expensive to do, and things often move at a glacial
pace,” Jim Nardozzi, the executive director of WDC, said of remediating sites
like these, which are known as brownfields.
Many investors don’t want to deal with environmental
cleanup. But Nardozzi believes the site is well worth the cost.
“It really is in the heart of the city, like in the heart of
downtown,” Nardozzi said, peering out at the site behind a chain-link fence.
“So to clean this up will really go far. We would love to get the site back on
the tax rolls and not have it be such an eyesore.”
A brownfield is an abandoned or underutilized site where
redevelopment hasn’t occurred due to the presence of pollution, or potential
pollution.
Connecticut is home to more than 1,000 of these sites, from
crumbling factories to shuttered dry cleaners and gas stations.
Experts say a longstanding state law is one reason why so
many remain. Under the Connecticut Property Transfer Act, cleanup of a site was
only triggered when a property was transferred, or sold. That process can be
expensive and cumbersome, causing many property owners to walk away instead.
Beginning this month, Connecticut is overhauling those rules
and moving toward a clean-as-you-go approach. The release-based cleanup
regulations require property owners or long-time tenants to report,
investigate, and remediate pollution when it’s discovered. That way it’s harder
to simply abandon a contaminated property.
Department of Energy and Environmental Protection
Commissioner Katie Dykes described the new approach as “a win for the
environment and a win for economic development.”
“It’s like the starting gun is going off,” she said. “We’re
going to see investment occurring, and ultimately, revitalization and cleanup
of these properties.”
State’s “Transfer Act” slowed cleanups and
redevelopment
For more than 40 years, the Connecticut Property Transfer
Act was the main driver of environmental cleanups in the state. It required a
site-wide environmental investigation – which can cost hundreds of thousands of
dollars – and clean up only when ownership of a property switched hands.
The law applied to a specific subset of properties:
commercial and industrial sites, such as dry cleaners and vehicle body repair
shops, as well as sites or businesses deemed as “establishments”, meaning they
generate 100 kilograms (220.5 pounds) of hazardous waste in any one month.
That meant the law targeted not only big industrial
corporations, but small businesses too.
That created major economic and environmental burdens for
cities in the state.
Pollution at a number of properties remained unaddressed
under the law, according to Roger Reynolds, senior legal director at Save the
Sound, a nonprofit environmental organization.
“It didn’t prioritize [sites] based on risk and threat [of
pollution]. It prioritized them based on when a property was going to sell. So
you could argue that it wasn’t addressing the biggest risks,” Reynolds said.
The law also discouraged redevelopment of contaminated
properties, according to Gary O’Connor, an environmental lawyer at law firm
Pullman & Comley.
He said many property owners and corporations held onto
their properties to avoid costly remediation.
“A lot of corporations and owners have decided to mothball,
which created a huge negative impact in the communities in which those sites
were located,” he said.
The transition to the new approach won’t affect existing
brownfields, since the majority of them are already enrolled in state
remediation programs. But the change will spur owners of long-dormant
properties that were never enrolled into any cleanup programs to take action.
Release-based framework will spur economic development,
cleanups
The new release-based cleanup regulations that went into
effect March 1 will put Connecticut in line with 48 other states with similar
rules in place.
The new approach will also streamline the process to buy and
clean up contaminated sites, cutting some red tape, according to DEEP.
“This change really reflects embracing the model that’s been
successful in other states around the country,” said Dykes, the DEEP
commissioner. “We’re going to see investment occurring, and ultimately
revitalization and cleanup of these properties.”
State officials hope the change will also spur economic
growth. The new approach is projected to create over 2,100 new construction
jobs and contribute $3.78 billion of new growth to the state’s gross domestic
product over the next five years, according to the Connecticut Business &
Industry Association.
This will make the state more competitive with neighbors
like Massachusetts and Rhode Island, according to Frank Hird, a longtime
commercial real estate broker.
“A deal that in Massachusetts might take four or five months
to close could have been 12 to 15 months here,” Hird said.
For now, buyers and sellers are gearing up for the
transition and the hiccups it may bring. Nancy Mendel, the outside
environmental counsel for the city of New Haven, said communities will need
more clarification in the coming months as the state transitions to the new
model.
“It’s 340-some odd pages of regulations,” she said. “It is a
sea change in the way we do things in Connecticut, and it will take a while to
get used to and to understand.”
The state’s environmental office is hosting meetings with
stakeholders to help them digest the changes.
In Waterbury, the city is dotted with sites in need of
remediation. On a recent tour, Nardozzi stood outside a defunct metal plating
business, which he said was abandoned in 1991.
Nardozzi hopes the change will help more people invest in
Waterbury’s future.
“Historians will look back and think that Connecticut made a
major policy goof when we de-industrialized the entire state,” he said. “Maybe
there could have been a better approach, like clean as you go along, rather
than simply walk away.”
Wastewater project in Norwich gets major federal investment
Beth McDermott
Norwich Public Utilities is set to receive $960,000 in
federal funding to continue upgrading its wastewater infrastructure in the
Greeneville section of the city, according to a community announcement.
The funding is part of the recently passed fiscal year 2026
federal spending bill that was signed into law.
It will be used to clean existing wastewater mains and
install a cured-in-place pipe, re-lining approximately 2,000 feet of old
infrastructure to make it more durable and reliable. The project will also
include manhole lining for the 27- to 36-inch brick main along Central Avenue
and North Main Street, which is the main artery that takes all flows from the
Greeneville section of Norwich, according to the announcement.
Norwich Public Utilities has identified more than 27,000
linear feet of piping that needs to be replaced, with nearly 8,000 feet
completed in the past four years. Most of these pipes were installed between
1885 and 1950, according to NPU records.
“These investments will make an enormous impact on water
quality in Norwich and our region for generations to come,” Jeff Brining,
general manager of NPU, said.
Blumenthal said the funding is a critical investment not
only in essential infrastructure, but in the long-term health of the Shetucket
River by preventing millions of gallons of untreated sewage from being dumped
into its waters.
“I’m proud to have helped deliver this funding to Norwich
and will keep fighting to bring federal dollars back to essential projects here
in Connecticut,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal said.
The funding was included in the Interior, Environment, and
Related Agencies bill, which is part of the larger spending package. The bill
provides funding for some, but not all, government agencies, and includes
funding for Congressionally Directed Spending items under several
appropriations bills.
CT must act now if it wants new nuclear power by 2035, state official says
HARTFORD — Connecticut’s goal of having new nuclear power
generation by 2035 will be hampered by the costs of construction, the speed of
emerging technology and the willingness
of residents to support new facilities of any size in their
hometowns.
Whether it’s small modular reactors or new large-scale
generators such as the Millstone
nuclear power station in Waterford, the state must start looking at
its energy future now, if more generation is to be available by the middle of
the next decade, Department
of Energy and Environmental Protection Commissioner Katie
Dykes told state lawmakers last week.
There’s $5 million in state grants for towns and cities
to consider hosting small nuclear reactors that could generate up to 300
megawatts, keeping the lights on in up to 300,000 homes. Larger Millstone-size
facilities that can generate 2 gigawatts of electricity, which can power 2
million houses, would require a major multistate regional commitment,
Dykes said.
“There is so much that has evolved and changed in the
nuclear industry since the last time that Connecticut was in dialogue with
communities about siting and hosting nuclear, which was decades ago,” Dykes
told the legislative Energy and Technology Committee.
DEEP has
already held two
of six planned informational workshops for the public to learn about
new nuclear capacity in Connecticut. She stressed the need for municipal buy-in
when considering the benefits of hosting a small modular reactor, including
future tax benefits.
“Our goal, before getting input on design, we felt it was
important to increase the level of information across the state about current
technology, safety, security and environment impact,” Dykes said. “This is
funding to help provide technical assistance to communities that may want to
get further information and understanding and exploration of whether nuclear
may be right for them. We want to meet communities where they are.”
In recent years, the General Assembly has opened the door to
nuclear as a nonpolluting energy option as the state’s energy requirements
increase.
“There’s perhaps a bit of a gold rush going on across the
country with nuclear as the panacea,” said state Rep.
Jonathan Steinberg, D-Westport,
co-chairman of the committee. “Connecticut is not in this alone, per se.”
Dykes said that while DEEP has not set a goal for new power
sources, New
York Gov. Kathy Hochul recently announced a 5 gigawatt target. There
are major financial and technological obstacles to nuclear power, she said, but
Connecticut will closely watch other projects, such as an expansion
proposal in Georgia.
Cost overruns in getting nuclear power plants sited, built
and online, are the biggest concerns, Dykes said. Connecticut can learn
from states that approve construction plans first and would be the likely
recipients of new federal support.
“It’s very difficult to consider Connecticut backstopping a
new nuclear project alone,” Dykes said.
Millstone, the only nuclear power plant in the state, is 50
years old. The former Connecticut Yankee plant in Haddam,
which opened in 1968, closed in 1996.
State Sen. Norm
Needleman, D-Essex,
co-chairman of the committee, said the General Assembly’s lifting of a nuclear
moratorium in 2019 was prescient.
“We really sort of led the charge, between this committee,
the legislature and the governor,” Needleman said during the nearly hourlong
discussion with Dykes. “I think we saw the writing on the wall. We need to move
ahead with an all-of-the-above strategy. Even though initially it was how we
could enhance capacity at Millstone, it sort of expanded and the times changed.
SMRs may have their day. I don’t think they’re having their day quite yet.”
Needleman said consumer energy costs will continue to rise
and said he’s not sure how the price of nuclear will stand among the other
possible energy sources such as gas and oil-burning power plants, as well
as renewables such as water, wind and solar power.
“There are challenges to it, but it is a low-cost fuel
alternative, high-cost capital alternative," he said of nuclear
power. "The numbers I am hearing in my head, the timeline is 2035,
and I think that although we need to have a vision that far out, we absolutely
need to have a vision between now and 2035.”
Needleman warned that the high demand for power during this
cold winter season put pressure on the regional power grid and underscored the
need for short-, medium- and long-term energy policies. “This winter was kind
of an environmental tragedy, in some regard. I would not have wanted to have
lived next to a power plant that was burning oil for weeks at a time,” he
said.
The need for more energy is expected to keep growing.
“It’s the mid-2030s where we start to see that we are going
to face more significant shortfalls in terms of generation,” Dykes said. “So,
that time frame for the mid-2030s and onward is really kind of the target,
where we need to think about whether nuclear could be possible by that time or
whether it may be further into the future. But that will depend on actions that
we take today. While it may seem like a long time from now, now is the time we
need to get started.”
Connecticut is keeping its options open on its future energy
needs.
“We’re not limited in the type of technology we can look
at,” said Emma
Cimino, deputy DEEP commissioner of environmental quality. “I think there’s
a lot of interest in new nuclear, SMRs, fusion, things
like that, but we’re not limiting ourselves in these conversations.”
Both Needleman and Rep. Tracy Marra of Darien, a ranking Republican
on the committee, acknowledged the long-standing “not in my back yard”
sentiment of residents when it comes to such projects.
Marra jokingly mentioned Darien’s
2023 purchase of the 63-acre Great Island as a potential location for
a small modular reactor.
“I know we would all look forward to having a new SMR in our
backyards,” Needleman said with a smile. “Raise your hands if you want one.”