UI Responds to Attorney General’s Legal Action on English Station

ORANGE, Conn. — January 31, 2024 — United Illuminating (UI), a subsidiary of Avangrid, Inc. (NYSE: AGR), today issued the following statement regarding Connecticut Attorney General Tong’s announcement of legal action on English Station:

“In direct contradiction of claims by Connecticut’s policymakers during the Attorney General’s press conference earlier this week, UI has gone above and beyond its obligations for the cleanup of English Station under the Partial Consent Order (PCO) with the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP).  The Attorney General is now trying to change the agreement made with the State in 2016.
 

  • In 2016, the Connecticut Attorney General and the Commissioner of DEEP negotiated and reached an agreement with UI that the company would spend $30 million to remediate English Station and was not required to demolish the site. They now want to change the deal. Records of the negotiation and the final agreement make this crystal clear. UI has previously reminded the Attorney General of the negotiations and the final agreement and now looks forward to proving this in court with the Attorney General’s own emails and records.
     
  • Less than two weeks ago, UI proposed a compromise and a path forward. The Attorney General and DEEP chose to ignore this proposal and instead file a surprise lawsuit. UI was willing to go above the $30 million it committed in the PCO and discuss with the State other forms of funding, as agreed in 2016, to implement a different remediation plan than the PCO required in order to find a solution. Unfortunately, the Attorney General and DEEP decided instead to present a one-sided version of events that is not accurate.  
     
  • Attorney General Tong claimed that UI has performed very little work or security on the English Station site. This is entirely false. UI has performed extensive investigation and cleanup activities on the site, with over $19 million spent of the $30 million it committed in the PCO, after which point the PCO states that the State and UI will discuss other forms of funding. Thus far, UI has collected more than 7,000 investigation samples and removed 1,300 cubic yards of asbestos as well as over 8,700 tons of contaminated soil, concrete, and other materials from the project site. UI has also implemented significant security measures and enhancements to deter trespassing onto the site, including by installing an eight-foot barbed wire fence around the perimeter as well as cameras, motion detectors, audible alarms, and improved lighting. There is 24/7 on-site security who monitor and report any incidents to New Haven Police Department.
     
  • Attorney General Tong further claimed that UI has lacked transparency or failed to meet reporting requirements. This is also misleading. UI has regularly submitted significant and extensive materials to DEEP in compliance with the PCO, providing hundreds of pages in reports to DEEP, many of which have gone unacknowledged and unapproved. These include 70 monthly progress reports submitted every month since March 2018, 25 investigation and remediation-related reports, 10 Scopes of Study, a groundwater investigation and four groundwater sampling reports, two summaries of costs, and a closure report for part of English Station. DEEP’s decision to ignore and/or not to approve many of these items have significantly impeded UI in its efforts to move forward with remediation of the site.
     
  • Mayor Elicker and Senator Looney alluded to “reimagining” the Site with residential concepts that are far outside the bounds of the PCO. The PCO requires UI to remediate English Station to a “heavy industrial” standard and not a “residential” standard, as Mayor Elicker specifically stated. While the company continues to work in compliance with the PCO, Connecticut policymakers appear to be moving the goalposts, seeking remediation to a residential standard or even complete demolition, when demolition was removed from the PCO drafts in early-stage negotiations. UI sold the English Station site over 20 years ago, so discussion of the site beyond the “heavy industrial” standard is not UI’s responsibility under the PCO; the State agreed to this in 2016 and should not be allowed to renege. 
     
  • Commissioner Dykes tried to distinguish UI from PSEG, which received over $22 million in funding to demolish the Bridgeport generation facility, by saying that New Jersey company PSEG did not have a legally enforceable obligation to demolish that plant. However, despite DEEP and the City of New Haven each expressing interest in demolition, the Attorney General and DEEP agreed in 2016 that UI was not required to demolish the English Station facility.  Just as it did for New Jersey company PSEG, demolition would require additional funding.

    It is disappointing that UI’s significant efforts continue to go unacknowledged, and it is clear our public officials are choosing heated rhetoric over a fact-based discussion and antagonism over collaboration. We look forward to demonstrating our position vigorously in court.”

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