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News 12 Staff

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I'm Mark Sudall. Welcome back to Power and Politics. Well, elected leaders from Fairfield and Bridgeport want the Connecticut siding Council to dismiss its recent approval of United Illuminating's monopole plan and request the utility company submit a new application. The bipartisan appeal came as a final vote is planned for. 18th, UI's project intends to install more than 100 monopoles over a seven mile stretch in Southport, Fairfield, and Bridgeport, forcing property easements. Local politicians are vowing to fight and say the process should start over since it was done without local input. We are not here in an anti-infrastructure way. We are here to be smart, to be thoughtful, and to be partners, and we are asking you, yes, partner with us, work together with us. We know that there is a solution that can work for everyone, a compromise. UI spokesperson released a statement saying in part, we appreciate the Connecticut siding Council's thoughtful consideration of the Fairfield to Congress transmission project last week. Our proposed overhead design best achieves all the necessary objectives projecting the environment and reining in protecting the environment and reining in costs that are borne by all Connecticut customers. State Representative Jennifer Leeper joins us now to talk more about this. Welcome. Thanks so much for having me, Mark. So the siding council agreed not to put up these monopoles initially and now has changed its mind. What happened and why the reversal? Mark, I think that's a great reminder to the public. The siting council actually voted twice not to approve this, uh, disastrous proposal, so it's not just the community that has recognized this proposal really doesn't make any sense. The sitting council also decided that. Twice. And so I think we also have a lot of questions and truthfully a lot of outrage at why two commissioners would with no new finding of facts, flip their votes, um, and all of a sudden decide that now this, this project should go forward. So at this point, is there any recourse and what can be done? So we are meeting today with the governor's team, with UI, with both the Fairfield Bridgeport town and city leadership and delegations, and also with the Department of Transportation to finally get everybody around the table to say surely there is a path forward that is less destructive, uh, that can achieve the goals of upgrading our infrastructure, making sure it's resilient and safe, and also not so destructive to our communities. Now, you know, it would seem so much easier to bury these lines and protect our communities. I mean that was talked about, but I don't understand why UI didn't seem to be on board with that. None of us can understand why UI is fighting so hard against this proposal. Their cost estimates for undergrounding were truly outrageous, a determination the sighting council also made. And interesting enough last week on that straw poll vote. The sighting council also voted that day on that same agenda to underground transmission lines through Stanford and Greenwich, and Eversource's cost estimate was $23.5 million a circuit mile to underground. Well, UI has continued to claim it's over $100 million a mile. So why is UI so incapable of undergrounding, I guess might be also a reasonable question for us to be asking. Now of course over the course of us covering this story now it's gone on and on and on we've spoken to several homeowners and businesses who might be affected by this and and this could be detrimental to uh some of their property uh easements and some of these businesses as well. Absolutely that is the primary concern both of Fairfield, Southport and Bridgeport. It's not just the looking at tall poles, of course no one wants to look at that, but this is creating a new right of way and taking the eminent domain 19.25 acres of privately owned land. And it's happening through our neighborhoods and through our economic development cor corridors, so there truly couldn't be a worse proposal you I could have originally come to us with. And so there are many ways we could improve upon this. And so I am hopeful today we can get to the bottom of some of those. Yes, you said you're meeting with the governor is there anyone else either state or federally that can can step in here? So technically this is an independent counsel, so you know, the governor can't put his thumb on the scale here, but I think uh what he can do and what he has done today is force everyone to come to the table and if we can recognize there is a path forward where we can. Upgrade the transmission, get it off the catenaries to eventually enable high-speed rail, and also prevent uh 19.25 acres of our residents and business owners' property from being taken from them. There's something everyone can benefit from here. Now this is certainly uh a huge undertaking regardless of what happens here. Where is all this money gonna come from? UI has been claiming a lot of concerns about cost, and the truth is that UI recoups whatever the costs are from us, the ratepayers, so we certainly should have a seat at the table about how you're taking. Our land to put your infrastructure and then recouping the costs back again from us so it will come back from rates. This is transmission. It gets a little complicated, but this empowers the entire New England region and ISO determines the generalization of those costs. Well, I'm sure this is gonna be going on for quite some time before we come to some settlement on this whole thing. Jen, I thank you so much for the time on this. Thanks a lot for having me, Mark. Well, next, the state attorney general is the latest to get involved to save the Connecticut sun.

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House GOP leaders are preparing to vote next week on a stopgap spending bill. Sources say GOP leaders want to keep the government open through November 20th. The White House is pushing for a longer extension into January. Democrats are signaling a tougher fight this time around, pressing for health care protections, restoring Medicaid cuts, and extending Affordable Health Care Act subsidies. Democrats say Republicans and President Trump must negotiate to secure votes. In Fairfield, voters will now decide who will be the town's first selectman. The town clerk certifying a petition from Republicans to force a special election. First selectman Bill Gerber died this summer. A panel of Democrats appointed Christine Vitale. To replace him, but Republicans collected enough signatures to bypass the appointment and force a special election that's yet to be scheduled, but the town's board of Selectmen has said there's not enough time to get it in on the ballot this November. In health news, Connecticut's insurance commissioner says most plans will keep paying for COVID vaccines no matter what restrictions come from the federal government. The good news is the insurers tell us there will be no change in coverage and cost sharing for 2026, not just 2025, for 2026 plan years. The state only regulates about 25% of all health insurance plans, but the commissioner says most employer sponsored plans will continued coverage for COVID shots. The state is ordering pharmacies to offer the vaccine to anyone who wants one. An escalation in the fight to keep the Connecticut Sun women's basketball team from leaving Thursday, the state attorney General launched an antitrust investigation into the WNBA. I'm concerned about reports in the press. That the WNBA may be wrongfully blocking the sale of the Connecticut Sun that would keep the team here in Connecticut. Attorney General William Tong is asking the league for internal documents including the membership agreement between the Connecticut Sun and the WNBA. He also wants copies of any offers the league has received for the team. The state is seeking to purchase a minority share of the Sun, potentially using pension funds. Well, that's all our time. I'm Mark Seal. Thanks for watching.

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CBIA Director Dustin Nord and State Representative Jennifer Leeper join the show.

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CBIA Director Dustin Nord and State Representative Jennifer Leeper join the show.

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