This story has been updated with comments from Fairfield First Selectman Bill Gerber and United Illuminating.
NEW BRITAIN – The Connecticut Siting Council today denied United Illuminating’s application to build monopoles as part of a transmission line upgrade between Fairfield and Bridgeport. The application, which was remanded back to the council after a successful legal challenge in April, was denied in a 4-2, with one abstention, straw poll vote in a virtual meeting.
Although the straw vote was technically non-binding, CSC Presiding Officer John Morissette instructed Siting Council staff to draft a formal opinion and decision denying UI’s application. There will be a formal vote on that decision at a future Siting Council meeting.
UI issued a statement Friday morning saying it is reviewing the decision.
“UI is reviewing yesterday’s Connecticut Siting Council meeting and their non-binding straw poll vote,” said . UI spokesperson Sarah Wall Fliotsos. “We look forward to working with the Council to advance the reliability, resiliency, and affordability of the transmission system from Fairfield to Bridgeport.”
For the Town of Fairfield, City of Bridgeport and local Sasco Creek residents, the vote was a victory in a year-long effort to halt the installation of new monopoles connecting UI substations between Fairfield and Bridgeport.
“We are gratified that the Siting Council listened to the concerns of Fairfield residents, business owners, civic organizations, community leaders and state legislators,” First Selectman Bill Gerber said. “We believe that, in this day and age, any utility company like United Illuminating must plan for the long term to develop technology and expertise to bury transmission lines underground in an efficient and cost-effective way.
“‘Undergrounding’ will improve storm resiliency of the electric grid, increasing the conservation of land and improving economic sustainability. UI’s public statements to date regarding their astronomical cost estimates for undergrounding highlights that they have a long way to go in this regard and there is a massive undergrounding capabilities gap between them and other utilities in other states and countries where burying transmission lines is the norm.”
CSC member Khristine Hall was one of the four council members to vote against the application.
“I have read the record as well as the draft remand findings of fact,” said Hall. “My vote would be not to approve this project. I believe that based on my reading of the record that the impacts on the wetlands, the impact on cultural resources, and the impacts on local residents are significant. There could be alternative approaches that could lessen the impacts.”
Morissette, was one of two council members to vote in favor of UI’s alternative proposal to move the transmission lines and monopoles to the north side of the Metro-North tracks.
“UI’s proposed project is the least cost alternative and therefore has the lowest impact on rates of any of the solutions,” Morissette said. “So, my non-binding straw poll vote is to approve with conditions.”
Morissette directed council staff to write an opinion and a decision and order denying the proposed project in the application by UI.
UI’s application for a certificate for the Fairfield to Congress railroad transmission line project consists of relocation and rebuild of its existing 115kV electric transmission lines along 7.3 miles of Metro-North Railroad corridor located east of Sasco Creek in Fairfield and UI’s Congress Street substation in Bridgeport. It also calls for rebuilding of two existing 115kv lines along 2.3 miles to facilitate the interconnection between UI’s Ash Creek, Resco, Pequannock, and Congress Street substations.
On April 23, New Britain Superior Court Judge Matthew Budzik struck down the original approval by CSC and remanded the case back to the council. As filed, UI’s application was specifically for its existing 1430 line, according to CSC Executive Director and attorney Melanie Bachman. The proposed project configuration, identified as alternative 1, uses both single circuit and double circuit monopoles located south of the railroad corridor in both Fairfield and Bridgeport and single circuit and double circuit monopoles located north of the railroad for 5.8 miles in Route 8/I-95 corridor and for 0.3 mile approximate to Congress Street substation.
The estimated cost of the proposed project is $255 million, inclusive of costs to transfer DOT facilities.
