Date: Fri 18-Dec-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: CURT

Quick Words:

edink-Housatonic-greenway

Full Text:

ED INK: A Welcome Land Deal

State legislation passed this year ordering the deregulation of Connecticut's

electric utilities was designed to benefit consumers by lowering rates. The

same was said of deregulation of the cable industry, and most people are still

waiting for the big savings in their cable bills. There is a great deal of

uncertainty about whether the ultimate economic benefits of deregulation will

accrue to the utilities or to the consumer. Still, we believe competition is a

good thing and support state efforts to generate new business initiatives and

energy at the same time.

As part of the deregulation effort, Northeast Utilities was ordered by the

state to auction off certain tracts of land by the year 2000. Environmental

officials were alarmed to learn that some of these parcels included

environmentally sensitive areas surrounded power facilities on Long Island

Sound in Norwalk, in eastern Connecticut on the headwaters of the Thames

River, and several sites scattered throughout the Housatonic Valley, including

the bald eagle winter viewing areas just below the Shepaug Dam in Southbury.

Many of the scenic tracts in question would be prime land for developers, and

the permanent loss of recreational resources and important wildlife habitats

seemed imminent.

In a deal announced late last week, the state now has secured permission to

purchase certain environmentally sensitive parcels from Northeast Utilities.

Included in the deal are tracts of land at Lovers' Leap and Clatter Valley in

New Milford and Bridgewater, and land around the Bulls Bridge, Rocky River,

Shepaug, and Stevenson hydroelectric generating stations. These tracts of open

space, in addition to being important natural and recreational resources, are

key to long-term efforts by the Housatonic Valley Association to establish a

"riverbelt greenway" along much of the Housatonic River.

Whether or not we ever realize savings in our electric bills because of

deregulation in Connecticut, this land deal reassures us that the initiative

will at least yield some benefit for the people of the state, who will now be

assured of permanent access to scenic lands along the Housatonic River.