Rutland Herald
September 15, 1998

Gas Pipeline Firm Plans for Plant in City

Rutland and Bennington Would Be Key Links

by Alan J. Keays
Herald Staff

Rutland and Bennington may become Vermont's newest centers of power.

Officials proposing a natural gas pipeline from Rutland to Pownal said they plan to build large electricity-producing plants in both communities. The plans were unveiled at a press conference Monday at City Hall in Rutland.

Vermont Energy Park Holdings intends to build a 1,000-megawatt, electrical power plant in Rutland off Park Street and a 225-megawatt plant at the site of the former Johnson Controls facility in Bennington.
"To give you some idea about the amount of power we're proposing, Vermont Yankee (nuclear power plant) in Vernon produces about 500 megawatts," said Robert Votaw, managing partner for Vermont Energy Park Holdings. "This is a very large project."

Energy East Corp. is working with Iroquois Pipeline Operating Co. to run a natural gas pipeline through the southwestern portion of the state and into New York. The pipeline would be underground except in places where it isn't possible to bury it.

The power-producing plants would be situated on each end of the pipeline, in Bennington and Rutland. Vermont Energy Park Holdings would operate those power plants. Project officials hope to have the plants up and running by November 2000.

The project still must be approved by the state Public Service Board.

Rutland City Mayor Jeffrey Wennberg, who announced at the press conference he would work as a part-time consultant with Energy East, said a proposed pipeline through Rutland is not a new idea.

"I remember way back in the 1980s there was a proposal," he said. "That proposal never really made it and became the source of considerable disappointment."

Wennberg called the latest plan "credible" and "extremely viable."

"I hope that in the matter of a few short years it will become a reality," he said.

The Rutland property off Park Street is currently owned [by] Mark Foley. Vermont Energy Park Holdings has signed a 50-year lease for that property. Terms of the lease were not released.

Vermont Energy Park Holdings also has an option to buy the former Johnson Controls facility, situated about half-mile from the south entrance of Bennington College. Terms of that deal also were not disclosed.

Johnson Controls made batteries at the site for many years before closing down in 1994, and razed their plant due to contamination concerns. The site has been vacant for the last several years.

Both municipalities expect to gain a boost to their tax base as a result of the plans to locate the plants in their communities.

"It will be a huge taxpayer," Wennberg said.

The proposed pipeline would serve residential, commercial and industrial electricity customers.

If successful, the pipeline would lead to increased economic development opportunities along its route, proponents say. The prospect of competition in the electric utility market and lower electricity rates in the region has economic officials excited.

David O'Brien, executive director of the Rutland Economic Development Corp., and Lance Matteson, executive director of the Bennington County Industrial Corp., both praised the project at the press conference Monday.

If they build it, they come," Votaw said.