HARTFORD, CT – A bill that would include other New England states in the contract negotiations with the Millstone Nuclear Power Station in Waterford was voted through the Connecticut General Assembly’s energy committee along party lines Thursday, but not without some resistance from Republicans.
The bill, Senate Bill 385, would incorporate other New England states into the decision-making process regarding long-term purchases of nuclear power from Millstone, as well as extend the procurement contracts with offshore wind companies. The details drew criticism from minority Republicans on the committee, who tried but failed to amend the bill.
The legislation aims to include other New England states in the negotiations over any new contract with Dominion, Millstone’s parent company. The legislation currently includes language that would require Connecticut to have the support of a minimum of two or more states in the region to extend any nuclear power contract.
Republican members on the Energy and Technology Committee said the bill is too committed to one contract or form of energy, as well “overly prescriptive” regarding language surrounding the inclusion of other states in the process of making decisions surrounding nuclear energy.
Ranking Member Ryan Fazio, R-Greenwich, made a motion to amend the bill to remove language that would require the support of at least two states in order for Connecticut to make changes to nuclear power contracts. That amendment failed to pass along party lines.
“We should be open to having a multistate solicitation, so we can share costs between rate payers of different states who are all benefitting from this asset, and other assets,” Fazio said, adding that sharing some of the costs between states would be beneficial.
However, Fazio argued that the state should maintain independence from the other New England states with regard to decisions pertaining to power purchases, especially those within its own borders.
“I think that that [language] would be overly prescriptive of our government in this important solicitation,” he said.
That reticence also applies to language in the bill surrounding offshore wind power procurements.
Fazio said that extending the offshore wind contracts to 30 years – up from 20 years – caused him some concern. His proposed amendment would have struck that provision from the bill entirely.
Committee co-chair Sen. Norm Needleman, D-Essex, said in a phone interview after the meeting that “everything about the bill” will probably change now that it is out of committee, but that the language that pertains to the inclusion of other states was “deliberate.”
Connecticut, he said, has borne the brunt of paying the contract with Dominion, because of unbalanced negotiations in 2017. Needleman said that the state needed the plant for reasons that other states in the region didn’t, and that added more pressure.
Adding the other states to that contract – and hopefully removing some of the strain on Connecticut – is the aim of the bill.
Needleman said he understood and agreed with part of Fazio’s proposed amendment, but that the language that includes other New England states is part of sending the message that “we need them too, because it’s too critical.”
Still, Needleman said that concerns around some of the language will be addressed as the bill continues to be worked on.
“Nothing is a mandate. Everything is a ‘may’,” he said.
Rep. William Buckbee, R-New Milford, said after the meeting Tuesday that there is a lot of work still to be done on many of the bills that were reported out of the committee, and that the legislature shouldn’t rush anything before it is ready.
Buckbee said he and others are committed to green energy, but that there needs to be more conversation about the best options going forward.
“We need nuclear power. We need natural gas,” he said. “But what we really need is for the lights to stay on.”
