Mother Nature has a cruel sense of humor.
As we in Connecticut mark the anniversary of last year’s epic snowstorm, we contemplate the unpredictable currents of Hurricane Sandy spinning in our general direction. It was a tropical storm named Irene that last year focused our attention on the fragile nature of our power grid. When that August storm pulled the plug on Connecticut homes and businesses, the results were bad.
We started talking about possible fixes. Then the snow fell and the power went out for a week or more in many areas. That seemed to galvanize officials into action. Heads rolled at CL&P; studies were commissioned; promises were made. Yet here we sit, wondering if the lights will stay on.
There’s no doubt that change takes time. Mutual aid programs have been reworked and only a new emergency will show whether we’re better prepared to restore power. Tree trimming has been stepped up, but only a storm will tell how much more we need to do.
An infrastructure hardening program is also moving ahead slowly. The microgrid campaign is about to launch, a seemingly cynical approach that says we really can’t fix the real problems so let’s get everybody who matters tied to a community backup generator.
The net effect of these two 2011 storms is to show us convincingly how dependent we are on a frail system. Whether Sandy brings us some rain or a major disaster, we already have enough information to know we need to stay focused on improving our power reliability. Talk is good; so is planning. We want to get this right. But we also want to get it done before the lights go out again.
Shutting down Connecticut again is just not a viable option.
Two trains running
The subject of the state budget came up twice last week.
First there was Ben Barnes, Team Malloy’s budget czar, acknowledging a fiscal picture that continues to deteriorate. In his monthly note to Controller Kevin Lembo, Barnes says tax collection is weak, as are revenues from Indian gaming. The national economic recovery is slow to arrive in Hartford, Barnes notes, in concluding the nearly-four-month-old budget year is now $60.1 million in the red.
Next month, Barnes, Lembo and the Office of Financial Analysis — which estimates the hole to be $71.6 million — will try to synchronize their estimates to give the Legislature a clearer picture. Still looming off-stage is the question of the Medicaid waiver the state is seeking from the federal government. Without the ability to trim that program, the state is looking at another unbudgeted $50 million hit.
Days after Barnes’ letter to Lembo, Governor Malloy stood before municipal officials and said he plans no new taxes in the two-year budget he’ll unveil in February. That was great news for everyone except those in the room. Municipal officials were looking for a promise that they wouldn’t feel the bite of the state’s budget woes. They didn’t get that.
So, we appear to have one of those brain-twisters from algebra: If the budget train is going 60 mph toward the brick wall of a law that says the budget must balance and the governor won’t raise taxes, how many sacred-cow programs will die in the crash?
This could get very interesting very soon.
