Connecticut Siting Council
At a Glance
DANIEL F. CARUSO, Chairman (since August 28, 2006)
Colin C. Tait,
Esq., Vice-Chairman
S. Derek Phelps, Executive
Director
Established - 1971
Statutory
authority - CGS Chapter 277a, Chapter 445,
Chapter 446d,
and Chapter 446e
Central office - Ten
Franklin Square,
New Britain, CT 06051
Number of employees - 10
Recurring operating expenses - $2,390,597.84.[1]
(Energy, Telecommunications, and Hazardous Waste)
Organizational
structure - The Connecticut Siting
Council has no bureaus, departments, or divisions. Its chief administrative officer is an
Executive Director who reports to the Chairman.
Mission
The Connecticut Siting
Council (Council) objectively balances the statewide public need for adequate
and reliable services at the lowest reasonable cost to consumers with the need
to protect the environment and ecology of the state for the construction and
operation of the following facilities, including but not limited to:
· Electric transmission lines and electric substation or
switchyards, fuel transmission lines and electric generating or storage
facilities;
· Telecommunications towers owned or operated by the
State, a public service company, intrastate telecommunications service
providers, or used in a cellular system, Community Antenna Television (CATV)
towers and head-end structures, and telecommunications tower sharing; and
· Hazardous waste facilities.
Other
duties that require further administrative review include:
· Annual review of loads and resources by the electric
industry of the State,
· Ash residue disposal area arbitration and negotiation,
and
· Dispute resolution for real property condemnation.
Statutory Responsibility
To fulfill its mission, the Council
is responsible for:
1) balancing the need for adequate and
reliable public utility services at the lowest reasonable cost to consumers
with the need to protect the environment and ecology of the state and to
minimize damage to scenic, historic, and recreational values;
2) providing
environmental standards for the location, design, construction, and operation
of public utility facilities that are at least as stringent as federal
environmental standards and that are sufficient to assure the welfare and
protection of the people of Connecticut;
3) encouraging
research to develop new and improved methods of generating, storing, and
transmitting electricity and fuel and of transmitting and receiving CATV television
and telecommunications signals with minimal damage to the environment;
4) promoting the
sharing of telecommunications towers in order to avoid their unnecessary
proliferation; and
5) requiring annual
forecasts of the demand for electricity together with the planning for
facilities needed to supply the predicted demand so as to avoid unnecessary
investments burdensome to ratepayers and corresponding hazards of insufficient
supply or lack of reliability.
We note
that while the Council has exclusive authority to regulate the siting of facilities under its jurisdiction, municipal land
use boards and commissions may regulate and restrict such facilities with the
exclusion of electric and fuel transmission and telecommunications towers. The Council, however, may modify or overturn
such orders by a vote of six members for electric generation, switching and
substation facilities. Restrictions
imposed by municipalities on hazardous waste management facilities may be
modified or overturned by a vote of eight Council members.
Public Service
The agency
continually measures its efficiency and effectiveness through public
statements, memoranda of law and informal comments received from its own staff,
other agencies and persons who participate in proceedings before the Council. The Council also refines its service through
recommendations by the State Auditors of Public Accounts and legislative
committees, including the Legislative Program Review and Investigations Committee.
Improvements/Achievements
2009-10
In fiscal
year 2009-2010, the Council held 42 public hearing sessions to hear public
concerns regarding facilities sought to be constructed within their
communities. The Council also held 24
energy and telecommunications meetings at which the Council considered and
decided the matters before it with the information gained at the public hearing
sessions. There were no hazardous waste
meetings.
The Council
ruled on 45 petitions for declaratory rulings for electric generators, electric
substations, electric and fuel transmission lines, and telecommunications
facilities. The Council issued
certificates for fifteen cellular telephone facilities, one substation
facility, and one transmission line upgrade (the Greater Springfield
Reliability Project), which required 7 hearings. The Council denied without prejudice the
Manchester Substation to Meekville Junction Circuit
Separation Project. Two certificate
filings were withdrawn.
The Council
reviewed and acknowledged 333 modifications of existing telecommunications
facilities. The Council also approved 19
requests for tower sharing at existing facilities to help avoid the
construction of new telecommunications towers.
The Council acted on 10 Development and Management Plans to ensure
compliance with its orders. Furthermore,
the Council inspects all facilities during and after completion of construction
to ensure compliance with its Decision and Orders.
On July 15, 2009, the Council held its
annual hearing on the 2009 Ten-year Forecast of Loads and Resources of Electric
Utilities in New Britain. This forecast
proceeding was held to assess existing and planned electric generation,
substation and transmission facilities to project needs and demands so as to
avoid costly over building or the failures of reliable power. The proceeding also analyzed historical
trends, the projected outlook of load and demand, and the effectiveness of
conservation and load management programs.
Historically, a detailed report of these forecasts is published by the
Council annually. In order to curtail
expenses, the Council in 2009 produced a smaller update report and adopted a
practice whereby full reports will be published every other year. The Council determined that because the
report is developed for a 10-year period, updating the report every-other-year
will not compromise the usefulness of the report in the alternating year.
To provide
effective information to the public and stakeholders, the Council continues to assemble
and maintain quarterly a state-wide comprehensive database of all known antenna
sets in the state that provide wireless (cellular) telephony service, including
towers approved by the Council and all antenna sets that are mounted to
structures that are outside the Council’s jurisdiction associated with the
provisions of section Connecticut General Statutes § 16-50dd. Moreover, to
ensure the usefulness of this information we post this information on the
agency’s website. The Council also separately
maintains a website database of telecommunications towers approved by the
Council, which is also likewise continually updated.
The Council
continuously reviews the latest technological, health advancements, and
concerns throughout the fields it regulates, in order to continually seek new
opportunities to educate itself and its staff in such advancements and
developments so as to anticipate and address the ever-changing needs and
demands of our citizens.
Pursuant to
the requirements of P.A. 07-242 (Sec. 8), the Council concluded a proceeding
(Docket 346) to investigate energy security with regard to the siting of electric generating facilities and transmission
facilities, including consideration of planning, preparedness, response and
recovery capabilities. A White Paper
on the Security of Siting Energy Facilities was
compiled and will provide to the legislature a reference tool in future energy
proceedings.
This year, the Council began migration of
Geographical Information Systems (GIS) data into the Department of Information
Technology (DoIT) geodatabase
through Citrix. The Council is also coordinating with DoIT
and others to initiate use of the Cellular Expert software, which will work
with our GIS software. The Cellular Expert software will use geographical
data to display the potential area of coverage from a given antenna location.
The shared data and new software will allow our technical staff to thoroughly
analyze existing and proposed cellular telecommunication antenna locations.
This ability will not only help with our analysis of proposals before our
agency but will help us serve municipalities within the state in their planning
for the development of wireless telecommunications networks.
Finally,
the Council continually seeks ways to improve its methods and procedures and is
in the process of revising regulations that will include electronic filing and
update service requirements, streamline minor energy filings through an exempt
modification process, include protective order and renewable energy procedures,
clarify the petition process, and remove and/or update old, outdated regulation
information which no longer applies.
Reducing
Waste
In order to reduce paper waste and
postage, the Council continues to implement a document service program whereas
participants in proceedings can elect to receive all paperwork associated with
the project via e-mail, rather than traditional U.S. mail.
To further develop a fully transparent
process for participants of Council proceedings and the public, the Council
continues its practice of posting the record of every contested case proceeding
involving a public hearing on its website, including the initial application
materials and the development and management (construction) plans. In addition to greater transparency of
Council proceedings, this practice delivers greater efficiency to all
interested, thereby reducing costs and ensuring that information is delivered
in a more timely fashion.
The Council is continuing to develop the
amount of content on its website [http://ct.gov/csc]. For example, the Council now has several
database sets posted to its website related to telecommunications
infrastructure and facilities, standard administrative documents, agency
publications, and agency filing procedures and forms.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 60
(c) of Public Act 05-251, the Council’s personnel, payroll, affirmative action
and business office functions are within the Small Agency Resource Team (SMART)
of DAS. This arrangement serves to
streamline and standardize the human resources, affirmative action, payroll and
business office functions.
Information
Reported as Required by State Statute
All
certification proceedings are held as contested cases and are conducted
pursuant to the Uniform Administrative Procedures Act and include hearings inviting
and ensuring full participation by all members of the public, parties and intervenors, thereby according due process for all.
In compliance with Conn. Gen. Statutes Sec. 4-61 (k), the Council
has adopted an Affirmative Action Policy and designated an Affirmative Action
Officer. The Council has also
adopted an AIDS policy, Code of Ethics, American with Disabilities Act Policy,
Policy on Anti-Harassment, and Policy of Sexual Harassment.
Membership
There are three different versions of the Siting Council: The Energy and Telecommunications
(E&T) Council, the Hazardous Waste (HW) Council, and the Ash Residue
Disposal Areas (ARDA) Council. The nature of a proposed project
determines which Council is empanelled to attend to the business at hand.
There are seven permanent members of the Council who
serve on each Council. The complete membership of each Council is more
fully-explained below. However, it is useful to note that the Siting Council typically operates only in its nine-member
energy and telecommunications (E&T) form. Indeed, the E&T Council
has met and conducted business more than 600 times during the last ten
years. During this time period the HW&LLW Council has met four times,
and the ARDA Council did not meet.
The Energy and
Telecommunications Council
Consisting of Nine members: five appointed by the Governor including the
chairperson, one appointed by the Speaker of House, one appointed by the
President Pro-tempore of the Senate, the chairperson of the Department of
Public Utility Control, and the commissioner of the Department of Environmental
Protection. By statute, at least two Council
members appointed by the Governor shall be experienced in the field of ecology
and not more than one member shall have an affiliation with any utility,
government utility regulatory agency, or facility under the Council’s
jurisdiction.
Hazardous Waste Council
Consists of Thirteen members: five appointed by the Governor including the
chairperson, one appointed by the Speaker of House, one appointed by the
President Pro-tempore of the Senate, the commissioner of the Department of
Public Safety, the commissioner of the Department of Public Health, three
ad-hoc members of the municipality in which the site is proposed (appointed by
the chief elected official of the municipality), and one ad-hoc member of the
neighboring municipality of the site (appointed by the chief elected official
of that municipality).
The Ash Residue Disposal
Areas Committee
Nine
members: five appointed by the Governor
including the chairperson, one member appointed by the Speaker of House, one
appointed by the President Pro-tempore of the Senate, the commissioner of the
Department of Public Safety, and the commissioner of the Department of Public
Health.
The persons appointed to serve on the Council are as
follows:
Energy and Telecommunications Facilities. Ex officio, Amey
Marrella, Commissioner of Environmental Protection;
Kevin M. DelGobbo, Chairman, Dept. of Public Utility
Control.
Hazardous Waste, Low Level Radioactive and Ash Residue
Disposal Facilities. Ex-Officio, J. Robert Galvin, M.D., M.P.H., Commissioner of Public
Health; James M. Thomas, Commissioner of Public Safety.
Appointed
by the Governor, for terms coterminous with term of the Governor, Commissioner,
Daniel Caruso, Fairfield; Philip T. Ashton, Meriden; James J. Murphy, Jr.,
Stonington; Colin C. Tait, Esq., Norfolk; Edward S. Wilensky, Wolcott. Appointed by the Pres.
Pro Tempore of the Senate, Daniel P. Lynch, Enfield. Appointed by the
Speaker of the House, Barbara Currier Bell, Milford.
Four
Ad Hoc Members for Hazardous Waste Facilities and Low Level Radioactive
Waste Facilities appointed by the chief elected official of the municipality
they represent for hazardous waste and low level radioactive waste facilities.
Exec. Dir., S. Derek Phelps, Middletown.