On June 6, the Connecticut Siting Council approved construction of an unneeded power plant which will use fracked ‘natural’ gas and will emit over 2 million tons of CO2 yearly. This plant is to be sited in Killingly in the Quinebaug and Shetucket Valley National Heritage Corridor, upstream from an existing power plant which more than meets the needs of the region.
Why has the CT Siting Council approved this project when it clearly goes against Connecticut’s mandated energy reduction goals and when offshore wind production will soon provide hundreds of megawatts of renewable energy to our region? Why create environmental hazards in our unique and precious Last Green Valley and risk the water quality for all of Eastern Connecticut?
How ironic that the CT Siting Council, which had previously disapproved this project because the energy is not needed, has now approved it at the same time that the Connecticut legislature has banned fracking waste from our state and set some of the most ambitious climate change goals in the country. Allowing the Killingly power plant to go forward will make it impossible to reach our mandated goal of 80 percent reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
Gov. Ned Lamont ran on clean energy pledges and has acted to protect our environment and to grow renewable energy jobs. He could reverse this poor decision, but it will take a groundswell of public outcry to force action. You can voice your opinion by contacting the governor at 860-566-4840.
Susan Eastwood lives in Ashford.
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Natural gas is abundant, cheap and clean and can lower Connecticut’s electricity bills. We should be encouraging it as much as possible. Eliminating natural gas will increase electricity prices, hurting the poor the most, and since natural gas has half the carbon emissions as coal, eliminating gas will increase carbon and other emissions.
This jihad against gas is one of the most ignorant and dangerous policies in the US today.