By Chris Powell
When the General Assembly reconvened two weeks ago, Governor Lamont spoke at length about Connecticut’s outrageously high electricity prices and said that to bring electricity prices down the state needed access to more natural gas and more Canadian hydro-electric power.
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The country has plenty of natural gas but Connecticut can’t get it because it comes from states to our west and New York State won’t allow construction of the pipelines needed to deliver it. Similarly, opposition in Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont is impeding construction of the transmission lines needed to bring hydro-electric power to Connecticut from Quebec.
In his inaugural address this week President Trump stressed his aim to unleash production of oil and gas in the country so the United States can become the foremost supplier of energy to the world. Trump merrily repeated what was practically his campaign slogan: “Drill, baby, drill!”
Fortunately Lamont was present for the address, one of only two Democratic governors in the audience. While he may alarm the far-leftists in his party who want to obstruct the new administration at every turn, the governor said he was ready to put partisanship aside where he and the new administration agree and can work together.
Does the governor see the opportunity? For federal law could override state obstruction of natural gas pipelines and electricity transmission lines.
Would a Republican national administration help a Democratic state like Connecticut achieve energy security and lower electricity prices?
Would a Democratic governor ask a Republican president for such help?
Why not?
In his inaugural address Trump delighted in reversing the policies of the previous administration and made a show of signing dozens of such executive orders, including orders pertaining to energy. He might be equally delighted to emphasize how Democratic energy policy in Washington and New York State has been costly to the working class of the Democratic state next door.
As for Lamont, he is contemplating seeking a third term as governor next year and electricity prices may be his biggest political liability. His partiality to natural gas and hydropower has drawn criticism from the environmental extremists on the far left of his party, but their shrieking would be drowned out by the cheers of state residents being given hope that something at last might be done about their electricity bills.
Connecticut’s congressional delegation, all far-left Democrats, might resent the governor’s asking them to work with the Devil himself, even on federal legislation to achieve something so tangible for their constituents. But the members of Congress might not want to be seen as obstructing lower electricity prices.
Indeed, criticism of Lamont for seeking the Devil’s help to reduce Connecticut’s electricity prices might work to his advantage with voters. Would even the environmental extremists in Connecticut vote for a Republican, a member of the Devil’s own party, against Lamont just because he sought the Devil’s help to bring electricity prices down? Unlikely.
In any case the governor’s approval rating is high enough that he can afford to risk some criticism in pursuit of the public interest.
It’s a little strange that the environmental extremists are so agitated about natural gas while they let nuclear power be depicted as so environmentally benign. Nearly everyone in politics in Connecticut goes along with this pose.
Yes, nuclear power doesn’t have the carbon emissions of natural gas, but it still is capable of producing far deadlier pollution: radiation from the fuel rods of nuclear reactors.
Reactors are not immune to fuel-rod accidents, and spent fuel rods are stored in water pools and concrete casks at nuclear power stations around the country, including Connecticut’s Millstone station, because Congress has been deadlocked politically for decades over creating a secure repository for the rods, which remain dangerously radioactive for thousands of years and are tempting targets for terrorists.
Millstone produces a third of Connecticut’s electricity and has a good record but it doesn’t deserve quite as much enthusiasm as it gets.
Chris Powell has written about Connecticut government and politics for many years. (CPowell@cox.net)
Chris Powell column 