Commentary –

Buy The Filthy Six

By William A. Collins

Can’t no harm,

Descend on me;

I own

Electricity.

History teaches that certain human activities should be entrusted only to government, no matter how poorly that government may perform. National defense is surely one. Education is another. Public works is a third. There are many more.

Until recently electricity was on that list, too. While we allowed it to operate in private hands, we controlled it tightly. Now, thanks to incessant corporate lobbying, we have opened the Pandora’s Box of deregulation, and been reminded already why that control was so vital. The winds of monopoly, once set free, have struck first in California, but Connecticut will not be far behind. When price controls end in two years, Nutmeggers will be victimized too.

Wiser states, which had not yet passed deregulation, have now put it on hold. For us it seems too late. The great flurry of buying and selling of power plants, and the shameful bailout of Northeast Utilities’ nuclear generators, probably cannot be undone.

But happily, there may be an even better solution. As luck would have it, Connecticut currently boasts six asthma-laden fossil fuel plants. They fail to meet many common standards of cleanliness. A single corporation from Wisconsin, if it can get past the attorney general, has bought them all up for a song, coveting its monopoly position once price controls are gone. But there is still a fly in that ointment. These plants may have to be cleaned up, at great cost. That surely reduces their market value.

So here’s a chance to buy them! Now! Fast! Should the owner, NRG Energy, Inc., not want to sell, we can take them by condemnation while they’re still cheap. If there is one clear lesson from the California mess, it is that the towns which owned their own power plants – Los Angeles and Sacramento – are the ones in fat city today. The corporate press prefers not to report on this phenomenon, but in California, generator ownership is now as revered as home ownership. Businesses are trying to move into those two cities, where both the supply and price of electricity are stable.

The most practical approach here would be for the state to set up a power authority. It would issue bonds to purchase and upgrade all six plants. Then it would hire outside companies to run them, deciding at a later time whether it cared one day to operate them itself.

Unfortunately this preferred approach probably won’t work as long as John Rowland is governor. By the time he admits that public power is the best solution, it will be too late. This leaves only one set of players capable of acting in time. The cities.

Fortuitously, three of the plants lie in cities big enough to take on the job by themselves: Bridgeport, New Haven, and Norwalk. But Milford might join up with neighboring Stratford, and Middletown with Meriden, in team efforts. Montville would probably need a bigger consortium. Norwalk is a likely pacesetter, since it already hosts two municipal electric companies to serve as models.

Local purchase of the Filthy Six would kill three birds with one stone: 1. It would assure that the stacks do indeed get cleaned up. 2. It would assure a steady supply of power. 3. It would assure a reasonable price per kilowatt when the rest of the state goes haywire. As a state we were foolish to deregulate, but thankfully we’ve been blessed with this singular opportunity to bounce back. We should grab it.

(Columnist William A. Collins is a former state representative and a former mayor of Norwalk.)