Between Scylla and Charybdis? He may stall by veto now, but Ned Lamont is, after all, a Democrat, so this bill will be back, soon

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CT Mirror:

Lamont seeking revisions to controversial housing bill (House Bill 5002)

The General Assembly’s 2025 session ended last week, but the debate continues outside Hartford over a controversial housing bill that is prompting Gov. Ned Lamont to consider calling lawmakers into special session for revisions before he must sign or veto the legislation.

…. Options under consideration in talks with lawmakers include Lamont signing the bill on the promise that objectionable sections be revised before they take effect, or insisting on immediate changes in special session while he still has the leverage of a possible veto.

“So the question is: you sign it, fix the bill. Or don’t sign it, and get a new bill that works, takes down the temperature,” Lamont said Monday.

Lamont, a Democratic governor from Greenwich who won reelection in a landslide in 2022 with surprisingly deep suburban support, has heard complaints about the bill from elected mayors, first selectmen and voters from many of those same suburbs.

Some of the complaints involved “a lot of really gross misrepresentation, which I think is no help at all,” Lamont said.

“They say, ‘You’re taking away local authority. It’s the heavy hand of the state government.’ I think just the opposite. We’re trying to give towns the incentives to speed things up, get more housing where they need it,” Lamont said. “I want them to take the lead. That’s why we’re here.”

One piece of the bill known as “Towns Take the Lead” divides housing need among towns and assigns each town a set number of units to plan and zone for. That means every five years, towns would have a certain number of units they need to plan for, and some of those units will have to be for families or set aside for certain income levels.

“I thought it was an unnecessary provocation,” Lamont said. “You know, people are taking those numbers, they’re making it sound like a dictate. All it is is, these are some needs you may have, and how would you get there? It’s up to you to take the lead on that. But I think it was a problem.”

Other provisions generating opposition would require communities to allow developers to convert commercial buildings to residential with nine or fewer units without a special hearing before the planning and zoning commission. Another would ban minimum off-street parking requirements for certain residential developments.

“I don’t worry as much about the commercial piece. I hear back and forth a lot about the parking piece, but it’s just for the very smallest units,” Lamont said.

…. House Speaker Matt Ritter, D-Hartford, who spoke to the governor over the weekend, said in an interview he was under the impression that Lamont was inclined to veto the bill if there are no changes.

“We have not gotten to that specific level of detail, if that’s the option,” Ritter said.

Time is short: The governor is leaving at the end of the week for the Paris Air Show, and he estimates he has about 14 days before he must sign or veto the bill.

House Majority Leader Jason Rojas, D-East Hartford, a primary mover behind the bill, said crafting revisions addressing opposition may be difficult, since some of it is inaccurate in his view. The definition of what a “fair share” is for each community is an example, he said.

“There is a desire for great clarity about what fair share is and isn’t,” he said.

Fred Camillo, the Republican first selectman of Greenwich, is among those who have spoken to the governor. Camillo said there is a widespread perception that the bill as written would empower developers at the expense of local zoning.

He said some of the provisions were too broadly written, such as a matter of right to convert commercial buildings without review. The ban on a parking requirement would be problematic in Greenwich, where narrow streets often mean on-street parking is unsafe, he said.

Camillo, a former state representative, said he was hardly alone in lobbying Lamont.

“He is getting swamped,” Camillo said.

….

House Minority Leader Vincent J. Candelora, R-North Branford, said the housing issue controversy had primarily been focused in Fairfield County. But no longer.

“My community never cared about it. Now that it has passed, my community is blowing up,” Candelora said.

Surely there are easier, softer ways to end a naval career than this

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Riverside NoPo Sale

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7 Griffith Road, listed at $1.995 million, sold to Stamford buyers for $2.150.

History:

Purchased from an estate February 2022 to a local contractor for $1,020,000 (asking price was $995,000.) Renovated and resold to a Colorado buyer on July 22 2022 for $1.875 (asking price was $1.775 million).

Here’s what the house looked like pre-renovation:

Griffith Road is a perfectly decent neighborhood, but I’m not sure I’d agree with the listing agent’s description of it in that original estate sale: “This fantastic single-family home is located in one of the best neighborhoods in Riverside on a quiet cul-de-sac.”

But whatever.

Wind power? What was that all about?

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Governor murphy has the sads

“OoopS! My bad — sorry!”

Offshore wind power company asks to cancel its New Jersey project

  • Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind has filed a request to cancel its 1.5-gigawatt wind turbine project off the coast of Atlantic City, citing economic and political challenges.

  • The company cited economic turmoil, including inflation and supply chain disruptions, as well as a federal permitting freeze under the Trump administration, as reasons for the cancellation.

See if you can find anytghing that’s true about this statement from a New Jersey Green Idiot — I can’t:

Ed Potosnak, executive director of the New Jersey League of Conservation Voters, an environmental advocacy organization, said offshore wind energy is important for improving air quality and generating new jobs.

"At a time when New Jersey families are concerned about energy affordability and rising utility prices, we need to be building clean energy to lower costs, create good jobs in the state, lessen our dependence on dirty and expensive oil and gas, and protect our communities from the dangers of climate change," Potosnak said in a statement.

"In New Jersey we lead, and we’re not giving up on offshore wind due to a temporary setback," he said. "We’ll continue to fight to save lives."

Another Massive NJ Wind Project Blows Off Construction to Wait Trump Out

Beege Wellborne, HotAir:

This has been so delicious. Sitting here watching all of rodential New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy's Green grifting schemes flutter to earth in little flaming, fluttering, fragile wisps of so much worthless detritus like tiny pieces of canvas falling to earth after the Hindenburg went boom.

His climate cult fantasies are all blowed up.

Atlantic Shores, the cornerstone of the verminous Murphy's renewable energy plans for the state, has been struggling along in what sailors would call 'being in irons' - where the prevailing wind is so stiff in your face, a ship makes no progress and might even be driven backward a little.

That's what has happened to the Atlantic Shores offshore wind farm since Trump's election and especially post-inauguration.

In February, their biggest partner, Shell, walked away from the project. 

Shortly thereafter, the New Jersey Economic Development Authority and the Public Utilities Board delivered their own one-two punches which left the project reeling.

In a sign of the struggling times for the offshore wind industry in the state and the country, ROI-NJ has learned that N.J. Economic Development Authority CEO Tim Sullivan Monday said the organization is exploring alternative uses for the New Jersey Wind Port currently being built in Lower Alloways Creek in Salem County.

“In light of the significant uncertainties in the offshore wind market, we have decided to accelerate our strategic review of options and alternatives for the New Jersey Wind Port,” Sullivan said in a statement.

The Board of Public Utilities, heavily influenced by Gov. Phil Murphy, added a second crippling blow later Monday, saying the state would not accept any of the bids for the fourth solicitation of offshore wind, essentially ending any hope of the Atlantic Shores project 

The governor was about beaten into submission to economic reality by the time he finally yanked state funding from all new offshore wind developments.

And today we learned the Atlantic Shores development had officially requested on the 4th of June to pull the plug on the entire project. 

The company filed a request to cancel its plans and to terminate its Offshore Renewable Energy Certificate (OREC) order.

Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind, a joint venture between Shell and EDF Renewables, is seeking to withdraw from its flagship New Jersey offshore wind project just months after publicly reaffirming its dedication to the state’s clean energy goals.

On June 4, the company filed a formal petition with the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities requesting to terminate its Offshore Renewable Energy Certificate (OREC) order. The request, if granted, would effectively halt development of the 1.5-gigawatt wind farm located east of Atlantic City that was expected to power roughly 700,000 homes.

The withdrawl request is a major gut punch to New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy as the embattled offshore wind architect enters his final months in office.

Earlier this year, Atlantic Shores issued statements positioning itself as a key contributor to New Jersey’s clean energy future. In a February 3 press release, the company said it “stands ready to deliver on the promise of offshore wind” and called its Project 1 “the most competitive and deliverable project proposed in NJ4.” At the time, the firm expressed disappointment after the fourth offshore wind solicitation concluded without awarding any projects.

…. In the meantime, Murphy is trying to paper over the pain that his policies are going to cost New Jersey utility rate payers by cleverly disguising  a scheduled July rate hike as something entirely different. He's managing to put it off until after this fall's elections.

From a different source, here’s a history of electricity price increases, cents per kWh

  • CT 2024: 33.01 2013: 17.58 2003: 11.31

  • ME 2024: 26.22 2013: 14.56 2003: 12.37

  • NJ: 2024: 19.58 2013; 15.67 2003:10.67

It’s no coincidence that the huge jump in prices the past 10 years also marked the global warming kooks’ accelerated drive to ban new gas pipelines and electrical transmission projects, closing nuclear plants, shutting off hydro-power generation, and passing out huge subsidies to their political allies to build out huge solar and wind facilities. “The wind and the sun are free”, these liars assure a gullible public, but they never mention the infrastructure costs incurred in harnessing and distributing that power. This is deliberate.

I've heard, though I've never seen evidence to support it, that not all transgenders are insane. This gentleman does nothing to advance that claim

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Minnesota Democrats, Including Tim Walz, Cutting Illegal Immigrants Out of Medical Assistance

David Strom HotAir:

The reason? Shockingly enough, there isn't enough money to spread around to all their favored constituencies after having blown an enormous budget surplus in the last biennium. 

Leftists both inside and outside the House Chamber are not happy at all. 

Treat yourself to this 37-second snippet of Mr. Finke’s screech; it’s wonderful, and it’s liberal derangement encapsulated. Simply wonderful.

Strom comments on just two of the politician’s arguments:

What is striking about these arguments is the simultaneous claims that white people can't build things (a bizarre claim, since migrants are crossing into the United States because we have built the strongest economy in the world) and that the people who will save our economy can do so only if we spend billions of dollars subsidizing them. 

Make that make sense. Most of us have to make money to pay for our healthcare, but the people who really drive our economy need us to contribute to their healthcare, too?