CT files lawsuit to force utility to clean up long-polluted power plant in middle of river

The hulking English Station power plant has sat silent for decades in the middle of the Mill River, contaminated with PCBs, no longer providing power for United Illuminating.

On Monday, Attorney General William Tong held a press conference in New Haven to announce a lawsuit accusing UI of failing to live up to its agreements to clean up the site. United Illuminating later said there were “multiple inaccuracies” shared at the press briefing but did not say what they were.

UI and its then owner had agreed in 2015 to spend $30 million to clean up the polluted power plant, which they said then would take three years. Tong on Monday said UI, now owned by Avangrid, has failed to honor any of its agreements and has only removed one building on Ball Island.

The lawsuit seeks a permanent injunction requiring United Illuminating to take “whatever action is necessary” to finally clean up English Station. The company has been under a partial consent order since 2016. The complaint also seeks a $25,000-per-day penalty for each of six violations of the consent order.

“It’s been 30 years since English Station closed,” Tong said. “And we’ve been waiting 30 years for United Illuminating, but for the owners and providers of English Station to remediate this site. The site is full of contamination, PCBs that have been outlawed.”

He said the buildings themselves are dangerous, have been vandalized and unauthorized people have been seen on the property. The plant operated as a coal- and oil-fired power station from 1929 until 1992.

“United Illuminating and its parent company, Avangrid, have a present legal obligation to do everything they can to remediate the site to make it safe,” Tong said.

“In 2016, when Avangrid acquired United Illuminating, we at the state level had a lot of questions about that merger,” he said. “And as a condition of that merger, they agreed to take care of it. They agreed to remediate the site and to take all steps necessary, basically, to do whatever it takes to make this place safe, and they haven’t done that. They’ve been dragging their feet.”

At the time of Avangrid’s purchase, the state successfully urged the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority to fine the company $2 million a year for failing to remediate English Station. UI appealed PURA’s decision to state Superior Court.

Tong said the 2015 $30 million agreement is not a cap but an amount at which UI should come to the state to discuss what to do next.

‘They have an obligation to do everything necessary to remediate this location and they just have failed to do that,” he said. “Just so we’re clear. There’s a consent order that requires United Illuminating to take all steps necessary. And if the cost of that compliance exceeds $30 million, we can have a conversation about it, but it doesn’t cap their obligation to do everything required to make this site safe for everybody.”

Tong, speaking for himself and for Katie Dykes, commissioner of the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, said, “We are at wit’s end with UI, right? We’ve been at the table over and over and over again, giving them every opportunity to do the right thing. And they have utterly failed to do that.”

Dykes said, “Regretfully, those discussions have not brought us any closer to UI accepting their responsibility … and so unfortunately, we are now taking these legal steps to seek enforcement of those obligations. UI is obligated to complete this, no matter the cost.”

Dykes said UI has spent less than $20 million on cleanup, though Tong said UI has not been forthcoming on how much it actually has spent.

“Meanwhile, DEEP has spent thousands of hours of staff time urging UI to fulfill its cleanup obligations,” Dykes said. “The legal action that’s announced today and the declaratory ruling proceeding I initiated in my department on Jan. 25, represent the department’s continued commitment to using all of our authorities to ensure that UI satisfies its obligations.”

“There is unbelievable frustration with UI about their unwillingness to move on this site,” said Mayor Justin Elicker. “I have engaged many times with their leadership (with) our team over probably about three years now. And frankly, we’re optimistic that our conversations with them are going in the right direction.

“But, unfortunately, they have made it clear that they are not good partners, and not interested in finding a solution to cleaning up this site and following through on their commitment and legal obligation to clean up the site,” he said.

Elicker said the site could be made into a park or other use for residents of the Fair Haven neighborhood.

“It’s offensive that there hasn’t been movement on this site, and it is a slap in the face to residents of the city that UI is not moving forward in cleaning up what is a dangerous and polluted site,” he said.

Sarah Wall Fliotsos, a UI spokeswoman, issued a statement saying, “We are reviewing the multiple inaccuracies made during today’s press conference regarding English Station and will respond in due course.”

Senate President Pro Tem Martin Looney, D-New Haven, said he was present when the consent decree was announced.

The lack of action since then, he said, “is just an example, I think, of cynicism and bad faith, and no wonder people begin to lose confidence in major corporations and utilities and other powerful entities in society.

“The city of New Haven, just like Hartford and Bridgeport, have very few large sites available for development, relatively small, densely packed cities, and a site of this size has enormous potential if it were properly cleaned up, properly prepared for all to use,” Looney said.

Ed Stannard can be reached at estannard@courant.com.