Norwalk, Conn., loses attempt to have power lines buried
The Hour, Norwalk, Conn. --Aug. 20--NORWALK, Conn.
Norwalk and Silvermine neighborhood residents Wednesday lost their battle to bury a proposed 345-kilovolt in the city.
On Thursday, Mayor Alex Knopp and others received the 33-page decision
written by Judge Henry S. Cohn and expressed their disappointment. A spokesman
for Northeast Utilities and one Weston selectman read the ruling as a signal to
move ahead with the Bethel-Norwalk line -- part of a multi-phase plan to improve
the power grid in southwestern Connecticut.
The nine-member siting council is responsible for reviewing proposed utility
constructions. Last July, it approved the Bethel-Norwalk phase, which will add a
345-kilovolt line to the existing 115-kilovolt line that runs through Bethel,
Redding, Weston, Wilton and Norwalk.
The city, led by Knopp, appealed the decision after residents of the
Silvermine neighborhood argued that the project would run an unsafe and
unsightly high-voltage transmission line atop 110-foot-plus poles through or
near their properties.
With Cohn's decision, that fear now appears headed for reality.
"It means we get the poles. We're stuck with the development and
management plan, and so are the other towns. It's too damned bad," said
Leigh Grant, president of the Norwalk Association of Silvermine Homeowners.
"Us little guys can't win, it's just too expensive."
"I feel that this is inherently wrong. We have these things forever.
They are 148 feet (high) by the Route 7 connector -- they'll be a big fat
eyesore forever," added Grant, who testified at the appeal hearings.
Cohn rejected city arguments that the siting council missed the project
approval deadline; improperly accepted subsequent information concerning
reliability; reviewed the Bethel-Norwalk line without considering other upgrade
projects; and wrongfully rejected the city's request to hire an independent
consultant.
In its appeal, the city argued that the siting council should review other
phases of the larger power grid upgrade, especially the proposed 345-kilovolt
Middletown-Norwalk transmission line. The siting council has yet to decide on
that project.
In his decision, Cohn indicated that Northeast Utilities considered the
Bethel-Norwalk upgrade by including "material on the full loop in its
application." He also rejected the notion that the council did not consider
alternatives.
"The council had analyzed the preferred transmission line as proposed by
Northeast along with the alternatives it had suggested, alternatives previously
suggest by the four towns, alternatives suggested by the Attorney General's
office, alternatives suggested by the Office of (the) Consumer Council,
alternatives suggested by the city itself, and several alternatives referred to
as 'mix and match,'" Cohn wrote.
The siting council-approved plan calls for burying the 345-kilovolt line
through parts of Bethel, Redding, Weston and Wilton, as sought by selectmen and
attorneys, but not into Norwalk. The council later amended the plan to bury the
existing 115-kilovolt line in Norwalk.
Knopp described the court decision as a lost battle in a war where progress
is being made. He noted that the court rejected motions by Northeast Utilities
to dismiss the case, and reminded that a victory Wednesday would not necessarily
result in the 345-kilovolt transmission line being buried in Norwalk.
"Even if the appeal were successful, it puts the decision back in the
siting council's lap. The judge was not able to order underground (lines),"
Knopp said.
Knopp also suggested that the decision, although a defeat for Norwalk, set
precedents that will help other communities, including Norwalk, in the future.
"The irony is that the city loses its battle with Northeast Utilities on
the appeal of the powerline decision, but it does represent progress in the war
to protect the rights of municipalities in the future about how power lines, in
other facility siting decisions, are (constructed)," Knopp said.
Knopp said the siting council since has hired an underground cable expert for
the Norwalk-Middletown transmission line and henceforth will reject private
settlements between towns. Knopp said the recent ISO New England reliability
report considers the Middletown-Norwalk upgrade within the context of the
Bethel-Norwalk portion.
Knopp said he and city attorneys had only begun to review Cohn's decision,
but added that another appeal -- to the state Appellate Court or state Supreme
Court -- is unlikely.
"It's even more difficult to get an appeals court to overturn a Superior
Court decision," said Knopp, an attorney.
Northeast Utilities welcomed the court decision as affirmation of the need
and appropriateness of the upgrade, as approved by the siting council last year.
"The company is pleased that the court reaffirmed the siting council
(approval) to move forward with a solution to meet the growing demand for
electricity in southwestern Connecticut," said Frank J. Poirot, a Northeast
spokesman. "We believe the current decision contains compromises for all
five towns along the route."
Poirot said it is too early to spell out a construction timeline. The siting
council has yet to act on Northeast's development and management plan --
site-specific information -- for 45 poles along the 3.7-mile stretch from
Wolfpit Road in Wilton to the New Canaan Avenue substation in Norwalk. He
anticipates a decision next month.
For now, Poirot said the utility companies will make upgrades to the
Plumbtrees substation in Bethel -- as was done to the New Canaan Avenue facility
-- and by year's end could begin construction along streets and right-of-ways
all along the 20-mile stretch.
Weston First Selectman Woody Bliss expressed no surprise over Cohn's
decision, which he described as the proper ruling. "I would have been
amazed, if it had been anything else. This enables us to move on," he said.
Ruth Ann Wiesenthal-Gold, also of Weston, was disappointed. Wiesenthal-Gold
is president and co-founder of the Woodlands Coalition for Responsible Energy,
which formed several years ago to tame the Bethel-Norwalk transmission line. She
said such decisions ultimately are compromises.
"It just didn't go the way we liked," Wiesenthal-Gold said.
"There will always be people who will be unhappy. Our job is to minimize
that number."
Earlier Thursday, Wiesenthal-Gold called state Rep. Bob Duff, D-137 District,
and informed him that the city's appeal had been rejected. Duff said "so
many people have spent so many hours trying to get these lines
underground." He suggested that that effort might not be over.
"At this point, our best hope is to still to work through the
courts," Duff said.
Representing the city in the appeal was attorney Peter Boucher of
Hartford-based Halloran & Sage LLP. He defined the core issue of the appeal
as the utility companies breaking down the power grid upgrade into several
phases.
Boucher said there is no question that the Bethel-Norwalk portion, as
approved by the siting council and now upheld by the court, has created issues
for the Middletown-Norwalk portion, which remains under review. Boucher would
not speculate whether the city will challenge Cohn's decision.
"At this point we're still reading it, and it would be speculation what
the city could or should do. The print is not dry yet," Boucher said.
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