Connecticut’s Siting Council was expected to hold a final vote Thursday on whether or not to approve United Illuminating’s plan to add taller monopoles in Fairfield, Bridgeport, and Southport.
Governor Ned Lamont (D) asked them to delay the vote on Tuesday afternoon, saying he wouldn’t “let UI rush into a bad decision.”
The Siting Council, which is responsible for approving electricity projects across the state, has faced pushback from a bipartisan group of lawmakers and residents in Fairfield County for more than two years over the project.
Here’s how the controversy unfolded, and what’s next.
Summer/Fall 2023: Public interest piques
Significant public attention on the project came in the summer and fall of 2023.
UI released plans for major construction, which they maintain is needed to upgrade the power transmission system in the area. It was the final stretch of a five-part project that began in 2017.
The company asked the Siting Council to use the south side of the tracks, which they denied. Instead, the council told them to use the north side, without going through the proper vetting process.
Community activists founded the Sasco Creek Neighbors Environmental Trust Inc., or SCNETI, to oppose the construction.
They said they had not been properly involved in conversations about the project. They cited concerns about utility easements, which are when a utility company has the legal right to access and use a homeowner's or business's property to install or work on utility infrastructure.
Such easements would be taken from homes, businesses, and historical sites to install the new lines.
They were also concerned about how the taller infrastructure would look in their community. The monopoles would be 195 feet, or 17-18 stories high.
Thousands of residents signed a petition asking UI to bury the new power lines instead of installing taller monopoles. The company has said it would cost $800 million, and state ratepayers would be responsible for the price.
Spring 2024: Legal action and new legislation
During the 2024 legislative session, SCNETI and a bipartisan group of state lawmakers championed legislation to amend the Siting Council application process.
The law requires utility companies to consult the community during the application process. It also allows groups to recoup legal fees if they win their appeal to the council.
During this time, the town of Fairfield, the city of Bridgeport, BJ’s Wholesale Club, Inc., the Southport Congregational Church, and SCNETI also filed an appeal with the state Superior Court. They challenged the Siting Council’s approval of the project.
Lawmakers and SCNETI held multiple community forums to give updates on the situation, with significant turnout.
Spring 2025: A judge sides with SCNETI
In April, a Superior Court judge ruled the Siting Council was wrong to approve the project without community input.
The decision was celebrated by the plaintiffs. UI said it set the project back.
At the time, a spokesperson for the company said they were considering all their options, including appealing the decision or filing a new project, potentially one that they had already considered.
Summer 2025: A no vote
In June, the Siting Council informally denied the project, which now included using the South side of the Metro-North tracks, via a straw poll.
Khristine Hall, a member of the council, voted against it.
“I believe that, based on my reading of the record, the impacts on wetlands, the impacts on cultural resources, and the impacts on nearby residents are significant, and that there could be alternative approaches that would lessen those impacts,” Hall said.
Fall 2025: A yes vote
Just two months after voting against the project, the council voted via straw poll again. This time, despite the plan remaining the same, the majority supported the project. Hall voted yes.
"This is probably the most difficult decision I've had to make in my tenure on the council," Hall said during the meeting.
Immediately after the vote, community members and elected officials raised concerns about what caused the council to change its minds.
The bipartisan group held a press conference outside of the Pequot Library in Southport, one of the places that would see UI construction on its property.
“There has been no new information, no new finding of facts, and yet two commissioners flipped their vote,” State Rep. Jennifer Leeper (D-Fairfield) said. “So of course, it leaves us with a lot of suspicion on sort of the pressure campaign UI has taken under to get that result.”
They met with UI representatives and leadership from Governor Ned Lamont’s office, a meeting that, according to a statement from Bridgeport Mayor Joe Ganim, did not go well.
“I am utterly disgusted,” Ganim said. "By continuing to refuse to come to the table and negotiate a route that lessens the environmental, cultural, economic development and personal property concerns of our residents, UI has made it clear that they are choosing profits over people."
Fall 2025: Lamont asks for a delay
The Siting Council was expected to vote on Thursday, Sept. 18 to formally approve or deny the project.
A rally against the project was held at the State Capitol on Tuesday. Lamont appeared and said he would ask the council to delay the vote.
“I want a delay to see a better way to do this,” Lamont said, according to a press release from the town of Fairfield. “We’re not going to let UI rush into a bad decision.”
What's next?
It's not clear what the Siting Council will do on Thursday. They could delay the vote entirely, hold the vote and deny the project, or proceed with the vote against the Governor’s wishes.
The group of lawmakers and activists wants the Siting Council to throw out the docket and start fresh. If they did, the new filing would be subject to the laws they helped pass during the 2024 session.
On Wednesday afternoon, the lawmakers and community members were outside the Barnum Museum in downtown Bridgeport. If the project were to be greenlit, it would be one of the locations that would see changes.
Another is the Shiloh Baptist Church.
“You will drag my cold, dead body from the front porch of Shiloh Baptist Church before you'll run it over and turn it into some political, corporate greed, abundance upon abundance and upon abundance,” Senior Pastor Carl McCluster said.
