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Power Struggle
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Business New Haven
2/4/2002
By: BNH
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The Connecticut Siting Council 's de facto approval January 31 of a power cable across New Haven Harbor that will provide electricity to Long Island is already generating sparks - of controversy.
Following the CSC's refusal to reconsider its earlier decision approving the project, State Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said he would join the city of New Haven in opposing the plan.
City officials are concerned that the cable will interfere with efforts to expand the harbor's commercial uses, and rightly so.
City officials believe that New Haven's port holds the opportunity for increased cargo traffic as planners and shippers seek ways to avoid surface congestion on I-95.
Expanding shipping in the harbor means increasing its depth to 42 feet. Advocates of increased activity at New Haven's port are hoping that the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers will put a halt to the cable project. The Cross-Sound Cable Co. (owned in part by the United Illuminating Co.) is seeking a compromise by signaling its willingness to address at least some of the city's concerns. However, Cross-Sound has not agreed to bury the cable to the depth the city maintains is necessary to expand harbor traffic.
Some Connecticut cable opponents have portrayed the cable debate as Long Island's problem - so why should we stick our necks out? That argument ignores the fact that Long Island canceled operation its LILCO nuclear power plant - due in part to opposition from this side of the Sound. We don't seem to hear much about that, though.
Environmental concerns and economic issues such as potential harbor expansion deserve a complete, fair and public hearing, and we don't think they've gotten them to date. But there is no place for regional chauvinism in economic development or energy policy.
Moreover, utility executives better get their story straight as well. At last spring's 2001 Northeast Industrial Trade Show in New Haven, UI President Anthony Vallillo told manufacturers that they had better start planning for possible electricity rate hikes caused by a tightening market after deregulation takes full effect. Fair enough. But if supply is so tight as to drive up costs in Connecticut, why does UI want to hasten the state's power drain by shipping it to New York?
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