Everyone from Gov. M. Jodi Rell to Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz is grinning today as word has spread that New York State will sink the highly controversial Broadwater project in the middle of Long Island Sound.
Connecticut politicians have been battling against Broadwater for years, and it was initially uncertain how the new New York State governor, David A. Paterson, would weigh in on the issue. A press conference is scheduled for today at the waterfront Sunken Meadow State Park on the north shore of Long Island, abutting the Sound.
"We did it!'' Rell said in a statement. "Those are the words I used when we won the fight to save our sub base, and I have to tell you - it feels great to use them again today. We did it! We did it! We did it! Of course, we had a little help from our friends in New York.''
"Broadwater simply was not the answer to the energy question,'' said Leah Schmalz, director of legal affairs for Save the Sound, a program of the Connecticut Fund for the Environment. "There are alternatives available to us that can meet demand and would be online faster than Broadwater would.''
Rell, Schmalz, Attorney General Richard Blumenthal and others were scheduled to be at Silver Sands state park in House Speaker James Amann's hometown of Milford this afternoon to hail the decision.
Before heading to Milford, Blumenthal said, "It's not over yet - as Governor Paterson and I talked this morning. Interestingly, he's very well informed on Broadwater - much more than Governor Spitzer was. It's a good day.''
Blumenthal told a small group of reporters in Hartford that Paterson told him to take the rest of the day off.
For further information, see www.courant.com.
--Christopher Keating
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