Senator Fasano, Rep. Fritz and other Legislators Seek Delay In Power Line Decision

State Senator Len Fasano (R-East Haven), Representative Mary Fritz (D-Wallingford) and eight other legislators yesterday asked the Connecticut Siting Council to send a letter to the Majority and Minority leaders of the House and Senate requesting an extension of its April 7 th deadline for making a decision regarding the proposed 68-mile Middletown-to-Norwalk power line. The proposed power line route runs through Wallingford.

In their letter to the Siting Council, the legislators wrote: “This legislative extension would ensure that any decision by the Council will be made based upon a well thought out decision in which everyone was given the opportunity to be heard and not a decision based upon the imposition of an arbitrary time frame set several years ago before the magnitude of this application became apparent.”

“It is our belief that the Siting Council did the right thing in rescinding its current adoption of the EMF BMP in favor of using its own independent expert to start a new process for establishing a new EMF BMP. But, it is important that the Siting Council invites everyone involved to participate in this process. After all, what is at stake here is the health and safety of Connecticut residents, especially those who live close to the power line route. They should have the right, and the opportunity, to participate in this very important phase of the process. To do that, we need more time,” said Senator Fasano.

Rep. Fritz said, “I cannot understand how the Siting Council would be able to make a decision on Best Management Practices when we are talking about unprecedented exposure. In some neighborhoods, voltage will double. This type exposure simply has not existed before. We don’t know what that would mean for the health of residents. The Best Management Practices from 1993 just don’t apply in this case.”