The hulking English Station power plant has sat silent for decades in the middle of the Mill River, contaminated with PCBs, no longer providing power for United Illuminating. On Monday, Attorney General William Tong held a press conference in New Haven to announce a lawsuit accusing UI of failing to live up to its agreements to clean up the site. United Illuminating later said there were “multiple inaccuracies” shared at the press briefing but did not say what they were. UI and its then owner had agreed in 2015 to spend $30 million to clean up the polluted power plant, which they said then would take three years. Tong on Monday said UI, now owned by Avangrid, has failed to honor any of its agreements and has only removed one building on Ball Island. “The city of New Haven, just like Hartford and Bridgeport, have very few large sites available for development, relatively small, densely packed cities, and a site of this size has enormous potential if it were properly cleaned up, properly prepared for all to use,” Looney said.
CT files lawsuit to force utility to clean up long-polluted power plant in middle of river