Cloud Over Candlewood Lake’s Future

This appeared in today’s Citizen News. It is reprinted here with permission.

Cloud Over Candlewood Lake’s Future

Silver Lining of Plan Could Be Lower Property Taxes

APRIL 1 – Last year’s rise and collapse in energy prices along with recent months of financial turmoil claimed another casualty today as Candlewood Lake’s newest owners announced drastic plans for the future of the region.

GDF SUEZ Energy North America (GSENA) purchased FirstLight Power Resources LLC (including Candlewood Lake) from holding company Energy Capital Partners LLC last year. The sale was announced when oil prices were still on their way up past $100 to a high of around $140 per barrel in July. By the time the sale was completed, prices had dropped to under $40 per barrel.

Residents of the five towns surrounding the lake (clockwise, from North: New Milford, Brookfield, Danbury, New Fairfield, Sherman) had gotten used to recent sales of the lake and hardly noticed that it had been sold again, this time to the North American arm of one of the world’s largest multi-national energy companies.

GSENA owns and operates natural gas, hydro, and mouse turbine facilities representing 7,500 MW of electricity generation.

Oil is now around $50 per barrel. GSENA management has been looking for a way to make the acquisition profitable.

Highlights of the new GSENA SRE (Strategic Renewable Energy) Plan include:

• Soybean bio-diesel electricity generation. Soybeans may prove to be the cleanest, most carbon-neutral option for bio-diesel. “We studied this from every angle,” a GSENA representative said, “and our engineers report that soybeans are twice as efficient as corn, and about one and a half times more efficient than milfoil.”
• Deep-earth geothermal reclamation. Also known as DEGR (and pronounced “Digger”), deep-earth geothermal reclamation involves tapping heat sources far below the normal depths used in existing geothermal systems.

While these are exciting projects, their impact on the towns surrounding the lake is going to be drastic. “The only way we can get enough soybeans,” the GSENA spokesman said, “is by draining Candlewood Lake and restoring the farms that were in place when the lake was first filled in 1928.”

When told that GSENA should expect to hear from many angry boaters, fishermen, and residents, the GSENA spokesman referred further questions to corporate headquarters. GSENA is located in Houston, Texas. Corporate Communications’ telephone number is available on their website.

The DEGR project will be managed by GSENA subsidiary JVGC (Joules Vernon Geothermal Corporation) and will involve draining Squantz Pond in order to get into the caves below those waters, and beyond.

“We go way below 500 feet, which is where typical geothermal wells go, and the results can be spectacular,” JVGC senior engineer Arne Saknussemm said. “You won’t believe the stuff we find down there.”

In a highly improbable phone interview with this reporter, Zin Smati, president and CEO of GDF SUEZ Energy North America, explained the plan that could make the purchase of FirstLight a good decision and allow him to keep his job.

“Our initial interest in FirstLight was our desire to get involved in hydro and other renewable types of energy projects, as a way to show we are conscientious about the environment,” Mr. Smati said. “The collapse in energy prices impacts our timetable on that sort of thing.”

But Mr. Smati added that it would be wrong to think short-term only. A strategic plan that looked beyond the current economic woes and took renewable energy seriously was the right way to go for GSENA, if it involved a profit.

Mr. Smati said that some hard decisions had to be made. “One of my favorite projects was research into the economic viability of milfoil, to take advantage of the prolific nature of the variety in Candlewood Lake,” Mr. Smati said. “But we needed to think long-term, big picture, and out of the box. Our other options are more promising for GSENA and for the residents of the region. By taking these steps now, we will be ahead of the curve when the energy and housing markets rebound. At the same time, we realize this plan is going to end the milfoil opportunity forever.”

Mr. Smati said that residents would come to appreciate the decision to drain Squantz Pond and Candlewood Lake.

“We’re going to take advantage of that land, not just build soybean farms and a processing plant,” he said. “We’re also building a 1,000-unit condominium townhouse development and an amusement park. And, think how easy it’s going to be to get to Costco from New Fairfield.”

Following a tradition of naming things after the things they replace, GSENA will call the condo development and the amusement park “Lakeview”.

The park will include a mural of life in the area over the past 80 years, to preserve the cultural impact of the absent lake. Also in the works is the world’s biggest, lowest, and slowest roller coaster, the “Candlewood Cruiser”, featuring cars that look just like pontoon lake boats.

I’m not much of a boater,” Mr. Smati said. “But my philosophy is simple: seize the day. The way I run things, this company has no reverse gear. We only go forward.”

While many residents will miss the water sports opportunities that will disappear along with the two lakes, the upside is simple. For the first time, New Fairfield’s coffers will fill with commercial taxes, easing the burden on property owners throughout town. The biggest beneficiaries will be owners of (once) waterfront property who will see a substantial further reduction in their property taxes, as well as the ability to use newly available dry land at and below the 440 foot mark that has been previously inaccessible without gills. This also means the Shoreline Management Plan is no longer necessary.

The town’s Board of Finance is scheduling a twelve-week series of hours-long meetings to discuss this project. Agendas will allow BOF members to become familiar with the operations of soybean farms, amusement parks, and bio-diesel plants, as well as geothermal exploration and mega-fauna of the late Cenozoic era.