nothin New Haven Independent | DeLauro, Blumenthal: No Turbines In Sound

DeLauro, Blumenthal: No Turbines In Sound

Marcia Chambers Photo

Branford First Selectman Unk DaRos, U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, Attorney General Richard Blumenthal.

First came Dan Malloy, a candidate for governor. Then came Rosa DeLauro, who’s running for reelection to Congress, and Dick Blumenthal, who’s running for the U.S. Senate. They all came to a town by Long Island Sound with the same position: They support green energy, like energy-generating wind turbines. But they oppose putting the turbines in Long Island Sound.

Each of the Democratic candidates offered different reasons.

Malloy was the first to address the question during a campaign stop in Branford on July 6. He claimed the turbines would pose dangers in the Sound’s relatively small, highly navigable waterway.”. (Malloy’s opponent in the Democratic gubernatorial primary, Ned Lamont, is leaving open the option. We owe it to Connecticut’s families and businesses to leave no stone unturned,” said campaign spokeswoman Justine Sessions.)

DeLauro and Blumenthal outlined their wind turbine concerns in conversations with the Eagle after they held a press conference Friday at Branford’s Stony Creek dock, called to announce that they will seek federal controls to prevent another Gulf oil disaster. Standing on the dock on a hot, steamy day, they promised to defend the Sound — a national treasure, they called it — as they had done in the past. 

About the wind turbines?

DeLauro said she is concerned about how wind turbines in the Sound might affect the fishing industry. Finding sources for wind power is important, she said; the issue is where. I do not want to do anything that disturbs commercial fishing and shell fishing in the Sound. And that is a very big issue for me; so I would be opposed to putting windmills in the Sound.” 

Blumenthal, the state’s attorney general, said he has studied the issue of turbines in the Sound. Windmills probably won’t be productive in the Sound,” he said. There isn’t enough wind. I have actually talked to some of the experts. I would think there are better places for them.”

Their comments came against a backdrop of a history of Blumenthal and DeLauro fighting alongside Branford politicians against companies seeking to put terminals and pipelines in the Sound. Along with environmental activists, they stopped a liquid natural gas terminal known as Broadwater from being erected 10 miles from the Stony Creek dock. They stopped a proposed Islander East pipeline that was to run through the beds and tidal wetlands of the Thimbles. Blumenthal brought successful lawsuits to stop both companies. Broadwater was a 1,200-foot-long floating liquefied natural gas barge. Its aim was provide energy for New York State and Connecticut. 


As I think back to the announcement of our court actions against Broadwater and Islander East,” Blumenthal said, I am reminded of what our adversaries said: Your fears are exaggerated. You are thinking about the imagined; not anything real.’ …And lo and behold, in the Gulf the unimaginable and the unconscionable happened. And it can happen in the Sound. That is the lesson. These fights have real life consequences and the failure to follow the law can have real life, catastrophic implications forever, as we are seeing tragically in the Gulf. So we need to strengthen the laws that protect us from these kinds of catastrophes.”

He was joined at the dock by State Sen. Ed Meyer, State Reps. Lonnie Reed and Pat Widlitz and First Selectman Unk DaRos who have fought these environmental battles with him over the years. He thanked them.

DeLauro and Blumenthal said they would seek to impose a complete and indefinite moratorium on new offshore deep water drilling until the causes of the Gulf disaster are fully understood and they would strengthen the coastal zone management and water quality acts. 

Blumenthal said the commission investigating the oil spills needs subpoena power. I know from my experience companies do not voluntarily or happily surrender documents and other evidence.

Marcia Chambers Photo

Geese in the Sound.

As if on cue, a gaggle of geese appeared in the waters behind the speakers. They moved slowly in formation, reminding all that they were indeed still moving, that their feathers were not drenched in oil. At least not yet.


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