FAIRFIELD, Conn. — Elected officials and community members from Fairfield County are making a last-ditch effort to halt United Illuminating’s (UI) proposed utility construction, asking the Connecticut Siting Council to reject the company’s plan and start the approval process anew.

The dispute centers on UI’s plan to install taller monopoles and acquire property easements in Fairfield, Bridgeport, and Southport, as part of a broader multi-year utility upgrade along Connecticut’s coast. The issue has intensified recently after the Siting Council signaled it was leaning toward approving the project, reversing an earlier informal rejection from this summer.

“There has been no new information, no new finding of facts, and yet two commissioners flipped their vote,” said State Representative Jennifer Leeper (D-Fairfield). “So of course, it leaves us with a lot of suspicion on sort of the pressure campaign UI has taken under to get that result.”

Officials and Community Unite

Leeper, along with State Senator Tony Hwang (R-Fairfield), State Rep. Steve Stafstrom (D-Bridgeport), State Rep. Cristin McCarthy Vahey (D-Fairfield), and Fairfield First Selectwoman Christine Vitale, gathered with residents Monday at the Pequot Library to voice their concerns.

“This isn’t a NIMBY issue,” officials emphasized. “It’s about protecting property rights and ensuring the public has a voice in decisions that affect the community.”

Stephen Ozyck, co-founder of the Sasco Creek Neighbors Environmental Trust, Inc., highlighted the ownership of UI by Spain-based Iberdrola.

“American property and property rights, the properties of our churches, the property of our libraries, the property of our municipalities, get given to a foreign-owned entity, and we are made to pay for that,” Ozyck said. “We, the ratepayers, are made to pay for that. That is unconscionable and should be stopped.”

Call for a Transparent Process

Senator Hwang urged the Siting Council to restart the process under new, more stringent rules, established by recent legislation championed by area officials.

“We're not saying no to the project,” Hwang said. “We're saying create a new docket, create a process in which all the people have an opportunity to voice their concerns and have a day in a non-partisan, objective, and transparent process.”

The law improves public notice of construction projects, increases fiscal analysis, and allows municipalities to recover legal fees if they successfully appeal council decisions.

UI Responds

UI has maintained that the project is necessary to upgrade the region’s power system, with the first three phases already completed. UI spokesperson Sarah Wall Flitosos said:

“Over two years ago, UI submitted our application for this project with the same design criteria as the first four phases across seven municipalities, all of which were approved. That is because our proposed overhead design best achieves all the necessary objectives: protecting the environment and reining in costs that are borne by all Connecticut customers, while ensuring UI can serve the present and future electric capacity needed for the New England region and the customers we have proudly served for more than 125 years.”

The Siting Council’s final decision on the project is expected on September 18, 2025.

Originally reported by Molly Ingram in Wshu News.