English Station Mess Put Back In Spotlight

Local environmental advocates gathered in front of a graffiti-laden gate cutting off the contaminated former English Station power plant from the public — and lauded a recent move by the state’s attorney general pushing United Illuminating to finish cleaning up the site or pay a $2 million annual penalty.

They held that press conference Tuesday afternoon on Grand Avenue.

The catalyst for the presser was a brief filed five days ago by Attorney General William Tong in which he called on the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) to impose a $2 million annual fine on UI until the internationally owned regional power company completes a partial remediation of the Mill River site that PURA itself ordered back in 2015. That demand was part of a broader call-to-action by Tong urging PURA to reject a $103.7 million requested rate hike proposed by UI.

The crew didn’t just convene to welcome Tong’s attention to an issue locals have long voiced concern about, but to collectively bash and express distrust in United Illuminating, which kept coal and oil burning at the historic power plant on 510 Grand Ave. for seven decades until selling the property in 2000. 

United Illuminating signed a partial consent order with the state in 2016 to clean up a site that they left polluted with known carcinogens, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and heavy metals, as well as other contaminants, after operating the plant from 1929 until it was deactivated in 1992. 

UI was required to complete that partial remediation (read in detail about that here) within three years of entering that order, or by 2019, and had committed at least $30 million to doing so. Six years later, the site stands contaminated, surrounded by litter, and marked with graffiti. 

In a comment provided to the Independent for this article, a UI spokesperson emphasized that the company has already invested $18 million in completing some interim environmental cleanup work at the site, and that the requested 4.9 percent rate increase is needed to help cover the costs of strengthening the company’s ​“critical infrastructure.” (See more below for UI’s comment in full.)

“We are here today with the community to commend Tong and his call for a $2 million per year penalty,” said Roger Reynolds, senior legal counsel for climate-focused non-profit Save The Sound. If United Illuminating fails to move forward with remediation, Reynolds added, ​“we urge Tong to go forward and fully enforce” the clean up by any means necessary.

Deputy Attorney General Matthew Levine attended Tuesday’s press conference in place of Tong. He asserted that ​“we’re done waiting” and ​“we will not hesitate to use the full weight of our enforcement authority to get the job done,” noting that if the PURA penalty is not enacted or does not effectively prod UI in the right direction, a lawsuit could be on the table. 

“I’ve lived in this neighborhood for over 20 years… this facility has been here for over 100 years, and in that time it’s been polluting the air, the water and the land,” long-time neighborhood advocate and Urban Resources Initiative Deputy Director Chris Ozyck said. 

Ozyck, along with community members like Anstress Farwell and Aaron Goode, said UI’s failure to remediate the property has not only posed serious dangers to the health of people living in the area — and to those who often fish, crab or swim in the Mill River — but has also stalled the redevelopment of a historic building with potential to give back to the Fair Haven community and the city at large. 

Read in detail here about the history of English Station and how some Fair Haveners and others would like to see the site used, despite shady exchange after shady exchange of the property’s ownership for the past twenty years.

“I really think Fair Haven itself has borne the brunt of all these years of providing electricity to the suburbs but not getting a lot of benefit,” Ozyck said, arguing in favor of establishing an endowed fund to confront the long-term impacts of English Station on the neighborhood’s health and exempting Fair Haven from UI’s rate hike while his dog, Tilly, checked out the cameras pointed her way.

Ozyck brought Tilly to Tuesday’s event to further protest the ways in which UI is seeking to justify its proposed rate hike, noting that the company pays for dog walking services for its employees, an amenity ​“to make their lives more cushy” at the expense of customers facing staggering utility bills. ​“It really strikes me that the people in Fair Haven are left out of their thoughts of responsibility,” he said, not just as next door neighbors of the contaminated power plant, but as electric customers threatened with unnecessarily large utility hikes.

Tong Targets "Indifference" Towards Community

Ozyck was pulling that critique from Tong’s brief, which specifically complains the company was shifting inappropriate costs with no benefits to customers onto rate payers, including subsidized dog walking for employees working from home and ​“loyalty” bonuses for workers. Read the full brief here.

“On September 9, 2022 — at a time when its customers were struggling to afford their skyrocketing electric bills — UI filed a bloated, unsupported proposal to increase its electric distribution rates by $136.5 million over the next three years,” Tong wrote. ​“During the next seven months of administrative litigation before PURA, the Company failed to meet its burden to justify its exorbitant rate increase proposals, despite answering over 1,800 interrogatories from stakeholders, testifying over the course of 15 total evidentiary hearings, and answering 145 Late-Filed Exhibits. The Company failed to demonstrate, as it must, that its proposed distribution rate hike up to 8 percent in the first rate year is necessary to provide safe, adequate, and reliable electric service.”

Tong further accused UI of failing to meet its promise to partially remediate English Station and spending just over half of the original $30 million it committed to paying years back to improve environmental conditions on the site, all while pursuing the rate hikes that Tong beat down as exorbitant. 

Tong identified several instances of malpractice by UI that could have hindered their ability to complete the remediation on time.

He said that UI has yet to receive approval of any accounting costs for English Station from the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, which he said is indicative of a fundamental lack of financial record keeping. He also said that UI has ​“failed to exercise managerial prudence” by cycling through six different project managers over seven years at English Station. Furthermore, those project managers, as well as the site’s director of remediation, have all been employees of UI’s parent company, Avangrid, which Tong said poses a secondary failure to maintain local control over the project. UI is obligated by their consent order with PURA as well as by Connecticut General Statute to keep local control over the remediation project.

On top of those issues, Tong said that UI has failed again in its responsibility to keep the English Station site secure. In the past year or two, he said, the gate to the site and the site itself were ​“vandalized” with graffiti. ​“To this day the vandalism has not yet been addressed,” he said, as was confirmed during Tuesday’s press conference by the property. 

Tong concluded his appeal to PURA by writing, ​“UI’s continued failure to make reasonable progress is not an accident — it represents a deliberate corporate policy of indifference to the residents of New Haven, the State, and to this Authority.” 

Tong is pushing for PURA to impose a 20 basis-points penalty on UI’s eventual approved return on equity as punishment for ​“its many failures to meet its commitments to the State of Connecticut and the residents of New Haven.” That penalty would translate to a loss of about $2 million per year for UI, which Tong said should continue on a yearly basis until DEEP certifies that the site is fully remediated.

UI Weighs In

Craig Gilvarg, a representative for Avangrid, sent the following responses to the New Haven Independent after this reporter asked for updates on a revised timeline by which United Illuminating might be able to move forward with the remediation. 

On English Station:

“Even though United Illuminating (UI) sold English Station in 2000 — more than 20 years ago – UI is committed to meeting its commitments under the Partial Consent Order for the cleanup of English Station. To that extent, when UI was able to get control of the site, UI secured the site and began the investigation and remediation necessary. UI also has gone beyond its agreement to keep the public safe, including taking down a building next to the sidewalk when bricks became loose. To date, UI has invested more than $18 million to complete interim asbestos abatement in the main power plant building, including 14 boiler rooms, interim remedial measures in another boiler room, and demolition of the former Station B building. UI has, throughout the remediation process and aligned with the Partial Consent Order, submitted and received approvals and/or acknowledgements from DEEP and/or the federal Environmental Protection Agency on certain submittals and will continue to work with both agencies on approvals that are necessary to continue forward with remediation efforts. UI continues to work with the Lamont Administration, the Attorney General’s Office, the City of New Haven, and local stakeholders as we continue to refine overall project schedule, cost estimates, and evaluate potential remedial alternatives for the rest of the site, especially as it relates to alternatives that are beyond the parameters of the Partial Consent Order.”

On the Rate Case

“United Illuminating values our customers, and as a member of the Connecticut community for more than 100 years, we also understand the impacts of rising costs on households. For months, United Illuminating has called for reform and accountability in the regional energy market, and will continue to do so until New England delivers the affordable, stable pricing and reliability our customers deserve. 

“The deregulation of the energy market two decades ago eliminated the ability of Connecticut officials to regulate energy supply costs, and we saw the consequences in the significant hardship Connecticut families faced this winter. This emphasizes the urgent need to accelerate the clean energy transition, and underscores the significant investments in grid modernization, innovation, and climate resiliency to hasten a clean energy future and address the price volatility and resource scarcity impacting our region. To advance these pressing goals, United Illuminating has put forward a rate case before the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority seeking a modest 4.9% increase — its first rate increase request since 2016, and below the rate of inflation — to prepare and strengthen our critical infrastructure, including coastal substations, for the accelerating impacts of climate change; and align our investments with the state’s clean energy goals to enable Connecticut to meet its ambitious 2040 climate target. UI stands ready as a partner to address the real issues facing Connecticut families, but restricting critical investments in grid infrastructure is not the answer the state or its residents need.

“Unlike the 107% increase on energy supply rates set by out-of-state generation companies this winter with zero transparency or accountability – representing 70% of the bill UI customers pay monthly – UI received and responded to an unprecedented number of data requests through the rate case, and provided detailed testimony over 15 hearing days to PURA to outline our proposed investments and the benefits they will deliver to ratepayers, including long-term savings, a more modern, resilient grid, and continued safe, reliable service. 

“Simultaneously, UI has demonstrated a steadfast commitment, and acted with urgency, to help our customers manage the historic increases in energy supply costs this winter, working with state and regulatory leaders to advance a vital relief package that is providing direct assistance to customers facing financial hardship. UI remains committed to advocating on behalf of our customers and keeping our eyes on the long-term needs of our communities as we invest in our infrastructure, our environment, and a better future for Connecticut families.”