UI Responds To Mounting Opposition In Fairfield To Monopole Proposal

FAIRFIELD, CT — United Illuminating is forcefully defending its proposed monopole transmission grid reconstruction project, following criticism the utility company received Tuesday night during an informational meeting in Fairfield about the plan.

More than 150 people attended Tuesday's meeting, during which organizers, First Selectman Bill Gerber and others called on residents, business owners and nonprofit groups to step up opposition efforts against the proposal.

Under the plan, which has received approval from the Connecticut Siting Council, UI would erect dozens of monopoles, many rising more than 100 feet in the air, to string 115-kV transmission lines north of the train tracks through parts of Fairfield and Bridgeport.

The plan, referred to as the "Hannon-Morissette Alternative," is a compromise proposal OK'd by the Siting Council, which recommends moving the poles north of the train tracks instead of south of the tracks along the Post Road corridor.

UI has consistently maintained that the proposed project is needed not only to harden the electrical system in case of a catastrophic event, but also make it more resilient to climate change. The company also says that the project would replace old, deteriorating infrastructure.

Fairfield, Bridgeport and grassroots groups have filed appeals in Superior Court against the Siting Council decision, and are calling for UI to bury the power lines underground.

UI spokesperson Sarah Wall Fliotsos told Patch that the utility company was "not invited to attend or participate in" Tuesday's informational meeting, but she forwarded the following statement from UI upon reading the Patch story:

"The Fairfield to Congress portion of UI’s transmission grid reconstruction is the final 7.5 miles of a 25-mile rebuild program. For more than a decade, UI has been removing and relocating the structures in New Haven, West Haven, Milford and Stratford that carry transmission lines over the Connecticut Department of Transportation (CDOT) and Metro North (MNR) tracks, replacing them with overhead monopoles along the rail corridor.

"This project serves as a comprehensive solution to several pressing issues, including replacing deteriorating and aging infrastructure, strengthening our resiliency to severe weather events, and aligning with CDOT and MNR’s rail expansion plans - which have been a priority of the Lamont Administration.

"Our current fieldwork in Fairfield is consistent with the work we’ve done in all the communities that preceded them throughout the history of this project. Studying and understanding the conditions and surroundings in the project area helps us develop the most prudent design, which we then share with our customers and regulators. Without completing the fieldwork, we cannot create a thorough plan. The same methodology has been used throughout each phase of this ten-year project and shaped the decision to utilize overhead lines in each of these communities, as approved by the Connecticut Siting Council.

"The Fairfield to Congress portion of this reconstruction is critical to completing the comprehensive rebuild program and realizing the full benefits of a strengthened transmission network, both for Fairfield and Bridgeport residents as well as for all UI customers and millions of people served by ISO-New England."