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State weighs PG&E filing
By SUSAN SMALLHEER The state of Smith said that Public
Service Department attorneys would be participating in a conference call about
the bankruptcy today. Smith said the bankruptcy of
USGen New England and PG&E’s National Energy Group was expected; in fact,
it had been expected to happen before June 30. Smith said there were
advantages and disadvantages to the state in a bankruptcy situation. The big
advantage, he said, is that the state — if it proves feasible for the state to
buy the dams — will know of any competing bids. “The bidding procedures
will be more open to us — what’s going on,” he said. Smith is also the chairman
of the Vermont Renewable Energy Acquisition Authority, which was created by the
2003 Legislature to study the feasibility of the state owning the dams. The disadvantage to
bankruptcy, Smith said, is that it invariably is a more complicated legal
picture involving the bankruptcy court. This week’s expected
bankruptcy filing by the owners of the hydroelectric dams on the Natalie Wymer said in a
telephone interview that the sale of the dams “still remained likely.” On Tuesday, PG&E’s
National Energy Group, which, in turn, owns USGen New England Inc., filed for
Chapter 11 bankruptcy, which allows it to continue to operate while reorganizing
its debt. Wymer wouldn’t say whether
the company was negotiating actively with a company. USGen New England also
includes coal-fired plants in The filing was in the U.S.
Bankruptcy Court in Wymer also said that the
bankruptcy would not affect the company’s tax status — it would still be
paying its property taxes to communities along the two rivers in Rockingham Town Manager
Shane O’Keefe said Wednesday that the bankruptcy would probably complicate
that town’s efforts to buy the hydroelectric facility at He said the town would file
to be an intervenor or party in the bankruptcy proceeding. As a matter of coincidence,
the annual tax bills were being readied in Rockingham, with USGen’s bill at
$3.2 million, for both taxes in Rockingham and the “It certainly throws our
proposal to acquire the hydro facilities in question,” O’Keefe said. He said
the hydro proposal would be discussed by the Rockingham Select Board in the near
future, likely at a closed-door session slated for Thursday to discuss real
estate. In the town of Sen. Vincent Illuzzi,
R-Essex-Orleans, one of the main proponents of the state buying the hydro
system, said the bankruptcy would probably complicate matters. “It just throws into
question how easy it will be,” he said. “Bankruptcy locks everything in.” Contact Susan Smallheer at
susan.smallheer@rutlandherald.com. |