The Connecticut Brownfields Initiative (CBI) is pleased to announce the addition of The United Illuminating Company (UI) as a founding sponsor and partner. The partnership, which was finalized earlier this month, will bring financial, as well as experiential support to the students and faculty involved with the program.
United Illuminating (UI), a subsidiary of AVANGRID, Inc., is involved in the purchase, transmission, distribution and sale of electricity and related services to 325,000 residential, industrial, and commercial customers in the greater New Haven and Bridgeport area.
By joining CBI, UI will be one of twelve major industry sponsors supporting the $225 million push by the state of Connecticut to remediate brownfield sites, which lay abandoned and tainted with industrial waste and toxic chemicals. The state currently has hundreds of these sites, which impede economic development and negatively affect the surrounding environment.
According to Al Carbone, Manager, Government and Community Relations, joining CBI and the University of Connecticut in its mission to help municipalities, as well as train the next generation of remediation experts, is a cause that’s important to the long-term health of the state:
“United Illuminating is very proud to be a founding sponsor and partner in launching the Connecticut Brownfields Initiative (CBI). This initiative will serve as a catalyst for converting these sites into tax generating properties, both for municipalities, especially smaller communities, which have fewer resources to devote to site-ready development. This sponsorship continues our overall engagement with UConn, which has included support for other economic development programs, working with UConn faculty on storm prediction modeling, and supporting UConn students through the endowment of the Connecticut Energy Foundation Scholarship.”
CBI, which is starting up in the Fall 2018 semester, will develop a top-notch program for education on brownfields remediation and redevelopment, and provide networking opportunities for students, municipalities, and industry partners. The ultimate goal of the initiative will be to create a skilled remediation workforce and provide needed assistance to Connecticut towns and cities.
According to the director of the CBI, Dr. Maria Chrysochoou, UI is the perfect partner for the program, as they add a complementary level of expertise to the current group of sponsors:
“With over 100 years of history, UI has institutional and engineering knowledge that is unmatched,” Chrysochoou said. “Combined with its commitment to community involvement, and environmental stewardship, I believe that UI will play a huge role in our future success.”
To learn more about The United Illuminating Company, please visit their website at www.uinet.com.
