Latest news with #SitingCouncil
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Petition signatures against massive solar array in rural CT town top 1,100
Residents looking to block an expansion of a huge solar array on East Windsor farmland got a boost Wednesday when the town's legislative delegation put out a bipartisan statement slamming the proposal as damaging and unwelcome. 'The people in the town have spoken clearly and loudly at all levels,' state Sen. Saud Anwar said at the Legislative Office Building. 'Our message is clear: Reject this expansion … do not allow our community in East Windsor to be overlooked again.' Anwar, a Democrat, along with Democratic Rep. Jaime Foster and Republican Rep. Carol Hall issued a call for the Connecticut Siting Council to reject a request from Desri Holdings L.P. to approve more than 150 additional acres in East Windsor for solar arrays. Residents and town leaders argue that East Windsor and a few other sparsely populated towns with large quantities of farmland are being forced to carry most of the weight of renewable energy for the state and beyond. 'Achievement of the state's renewable energy goals should be the responsibility of the entire state, not just a few rural towns,' Town Attorney Robert DeCrescenzo wrote last month on behalf of selectmen. If the state approves the expansion, East Windsor would end up with a total of more than 1,100 acres consumed for solar energy. Much of the expansion would be near residential areas, which would harm existing owners' ability to enjoy their homes, he wrote. More than 1,100 people have signed an online petition against the project, warning 'Our town's rural identity, scenic views, and peaceful neighborhoods are incompatible with large-scale solar development. The proposed expansion would industrialize beloved green space and diminish property values.' Desri, a New York-based renewable energy company, contends the expansion will provide 'cost effective, stably priced, renewable energy to Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island customers,' saying it would deliver power to high-demand centers including Hartford, Providence and western Massachusetts. The company has approval for a 120-megawatt project, and is asking the Siting Council to approve an additional 30 megawatts. 'Upon completion, the expansion will deliver affordable, renewable energy to customers in Connecticut – producing enough clean energy to power approximately 4,500 homes in central Connecticut and beyond,' the company says. Desri advertises that it has solar and wind projects across 22 states generating enough power for nearly 2 million homes. 'Our commitment to a sustainable future is reflected in our ongoing engagement with the East Windsor community throughout all stages of the project,' according to Desri's webpage. But residents and the state delegation disagree. 'We along with our first selectman, Jason Bowsza, stand united to deliver a clear message to the Siting Council that our community will not be ignored. The Gravel Pit Solar Project must be stopped,' Anwar said. 'I have yet to come across any person who is in favor of this expansion, not a single one.' The expansion wouldn't include only farmland; part of the area is forest, and Desri plans to clear 46 acres of trees. Neighbors say that's not acceptable. 'I moved here for the open space, the farms, and the peace of rural living — not to live beside a fenced-off industrial solar array. What was once a quiet, natural landscape is now a stark, lifeless installation of metal and wire. The wildlife is gone. The view is gone. The quality of life is gone,' resident Dominic Pascucci wrote in a letter to the Siting Council, which is scheduled to take up Desri's project on Thursday. 'Meanwhile, my property value will most likely drop, yet I'm still expected to pay the same inflated property taxes based on a prior assessment—one that no longer reflects the reality of what's next door. In essence, I'm being penalized for someone else's profit,' he wrote. 'To make matters worse, the energy generated by this massive project doesn't even serve our community—it's sold out of state. Those of us living in the shadow of this development get none of the benefit and all of the burden.' Homeowner Christina Dahl said this week that hundreds of residents are frustrated. 'I guess you can say we are now officially a power plant/utility and no longer a town,' she said. 'We need our state leaders to realize we as a town should not have to carry the load for renewal energy in the state.'
Yahoo
02-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Legislature makes another effort to study impacts of data centers
There are almost no environmental regulations overseeing data centers in the state, but lawmakers, including those in East Lyme and Waterford, are seeking to change that. Legislators renewed an effort in the current session to require reports on the impact of large data centers on local power grids, following a company's proposal to build a large center next to the Millstone Power Station in Waterford. Rhode Island-based NE Edge proposes to build a pair of data centers totaling 1.2 million square feet on the Millstone property, a location that lets them buy power directly from the nuclear power plant and reducing the center's energy costs. Requiring impact studies, state Rep. Nick Menapace, D-East Lyme, said Monday, is the first step to more effective legislation regulating the amount of energy and water large data centers consume. Menapace introduced the bill along with state Sen. Martha Marx, D-New London, and state Rep. Nick Gauthier, D-Waterford. Last year, a similar bill drafted in response to the Millstone plan failed to gain approval. The state Siting Council rejected the Millstone plan last year, saying it needs more information. Susan Adams, state policy director for Millstone, said Tuesday that there is continued interest in data centers. A second bill in the General Assembly would quantify data center resource consumption. There are about 60 data centers in Connecticut, according to The one proposed for Millstone would be larger than any of the others. There are questions, such as exactly how much energy large centers consume and how much noise they make. 'East Lyme people are concerned they'll be stuck with all negatives and no positives,' Menapace said. 'A lot of people feel that's what happened with Millstone (power station), Waterford got the monetary benefit and East Lyme got stuck with an eyesore.' The current bill, HB 892, is before the legislature's Energy and Technology Committee and isn't likely to advance soon, Menapace said. However, a more detailed bill requiring data center impact studies, SB 1292, has more traction. Its sponsor, state Rep. Mary Mushinsky (D–Wallingford), said the bill attempts to set standards for an industry the state rushed into with virtually no regulations. 'That makes me uncomfortable,' Mushinsky said last week. Mushinsky said while useful and economically stimulating, data centers have a huge energy demand, and legislators want to ensure consistent grid reliability. Data centers, she said, also use diesel generators to help meet their own demands when strain on the grid is highest, like hot summer days. A past unsuccessful attempt to regulate data centers had included regulations overseeing diesel output, Mushinsky said. Diesel generators can produce fumes and noise. The bill would give the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection authority over data centers' energy consumption, Mushinsky said. It would require quarterly reports on the amount of electricity, fuel and other sources used for cooling, the source of any water that is used and agreements between the centers and any electric utilities. The proposed Millstone center is considered a 'behind-the-meter' center, which takes power directly from energy producers rather than the grid. 'The question is if they're the first customer, does everyone else become secondary?' Mushinsky said. Four years ago, state Sen. Norm Needleman (D-Essex) led the effort to attract data centers to Connecticut with tax incentives. Now he seeks to remove the tax incentive for behind-the-meter data centers in a separate proposed bill. 'Anything that's located at a power plant should not have the tax incentives that were offered for projects that were put on the grid,' he said last week, adding centers shouldn't be allowed to 'double-dip,' not just at Millstone but also at other plants. Needleman said when the incentives passed, legislators had not considered 'all of the possible impacts like behind-the-meter centers and what they really could do to the environment.'
Yahoo
31-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Big solar array in small CT town illustrates contention over Siting Council
Along remote Pompeo Road deep in the woods of rural Thompson, Sandra and Noah Sarucia started a bed and breakfast a few years ago with the idea of attracting guests drawn to scenic, unspoiled views. But C-Tec Solar LLC's plan to clear part of a nearby woodland to install a large solar panel array changes all of that, the Sarucias say. 'We have a small BnB business on our property that relies on the scenic road look and feel to attract customers,' Noah Sarucia told The Courant. The Sarucias were dismayed when the Connecticut Siting Council authorized the project earlier this month, and said all Connecticut residents should know that the council can make such decisions regardless of local opposition or community opinion. They're not saying whether they will challenge the decision in court, but noted that residents in numerous towns have been pursuing appeals in recent years. 'We believe that the Siting Council has unchecked power as seen by so many appeals being submitted across the state by folks just like us who weren't given proper notice nor proper information about how to participate in the objection of such irrevocable decisions,' Noah Sarucia wrote. They are not alone in their frustration: At least a dozen individuals, companies and towns have sued the Siting Council over the past four years, challenging its approval of battery power storage farms, high-voltage power lines, cell towers and solar arrays. Just four weeks ago, Granby filed suit against the council for authorizing Key Capture Energy's plan for a 5-megawatt battery energy storage facility not far from the Salmon Brook; the town contends the council didn't give enough weight to evidence of environmental and safety hazards. So far, court appeals against the Siting Council have a poor record of success. The courts have mostly ruled upheld the council's decisions, noting that state law deliberately designed it to make decisions in the best interest of all Connecticut power customers and utility users — with freedom from obeying preferences of neighbors or the local community. But state lawmakers have been looking for ways to give citizens and communities more of a voice in the decisions, and are focusing efforts this spring on Senate Bill 78. It would require the Siting Council to include a representative from the community where a proposed facility would be located; the mayor or first selectman would be responsible for appointing that person. The local representative wouldn't get a vote, but could deliberate with the council's voting members. Currently the council is made up of a representative from the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority, the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, a designee from the state House speaker and another from the Senate president, and five public members appointed by the governor. In testimony to the Environment Committee last month, Fairfield resident Mary Hogue urged support for the bill. 'These decisions are long lasting, if not forever changes to the landscape and infrastructure of the area. In Fairfield and Bridgeport we are currently dealing with an issue that should have included the citizens along the route of the EDC monopole project so that we would not be at this impasse,' Hogue said. 'Let's learn from this and include more transparency and citizen participation.' Rachel Briggs, staff attorney for the Conservation Law Foundation, said her organization supports the bill, but wants other changes, too. 'Many community members do not find out about proposed projects until it is too late for them to fully participate in the process. Improving notice is a key way the council can improve public involvement and the quality of decisions,' she told legislators at a hearing. The foundation wants the council to notify the public at least 30 days before public hearings, and to use social media, local news media, municipal websites and signs at the proposed project site to do it. In addition, the council should enable residents to sign up for email notices of any proposed project in their town, she said. Betsy Gara, executive director of the Council of Small Towns, also wants the bill to authorize the Siting Council to consider the number of energy facilities already in a community so that no town gets overburdened. 'Although we recognize the importance of the Siting Council process in advancing the state's energy goals, COST remains concerned that the council is approving several facilities in a handful of towns which is placing a disproportionate burden on these communities,' she wrote. But in testimony to the Environment Committee, Gov. Ned Lamont said the bill should fail. 'The Siting Council is a critical statewide body that ensures consistent siting practices for statewide infrastructure. Ultimately, the Siting Council regime ensures that all Connecticut residents can benefit from statewide infrastructure,' he said. 'Municipal participation in Siting Council proceedings is already extensive … disturbing the consistency of the Siting Council's approach will inhibit Connecticut's response to climate change.'
