(Host) Governor Jim Douglas says there’s a good chance that the state of Vermont will make a formal bid on a series of hydro dams along the Connecticut River.
The dams are owned by a company called U.S. Gen which is struggling to emerge from bankruptcy.
A number of lawmakers have been urging Douglas to take a serious look at this proposal and the governor says a recent review of the project shows that it could be beneficial to the ratepayers of Vermont.
(Douglas) “I said at the outset that I thought the numbers would rule. If it looked like a good deal for the state then it’s something we would want to pursue. The preliminary advice from the consultant to the acquisition authority is that with a private partner to share the risks so the taxpayers don’t bear the entirety of the multi-hundred-million dollar acquisition price it might well be a good investment for the state. So I thought the process should move forward on a deliberative basis.”
(Host) Douglas says there are still a lot unknown factors surrounding this project and that it may take months to fully resolve all the outstanding issues with the proposal.