NEW HAVEN--Just about one mile away from New Haven, across the Mill River in Fair Haven, is the English Station.
It's a power station that's over 100 years old. But it's also a big blight on the landscape.
The facility hasn't been used in over 25 years, and people say the former coal and oil burning plant needs to be cleaned up.
United Illuminating Company owns the property, and is in talks with Iberdrola, a global electric company from Spain. If the $3 billion-merger goes through, state Sen. Martin Looney doesn't want to see the English Station left behind.
"Now is the critical time to put English Station at the center of the table," said Looney.
The problem is that the 8 acre-island site needs to be cleaned up--it needs asbestos, PCPs and other pollutants removed--and that may be costly. It could even soar to $30 million, according to the stat Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.
The question remains: who should pay for it?
State Rep. Robet Megna said, "This is something that we don't want them to leave behind, and they need to pick up the tab to clean this whole place up."
UI representatives acknowledge the site needs to be cleaned up, and the company is working with DEEP to determine how to approach the issue. However, that's not enough for local politicians.
"The company disappears and leaves the city or taxpayers to bear the burden of cleaning up," said Megna.
Looney is also concerned that a merger would push the issue further down the totem pole of importance, which is keeping prospective developers from buying Fair Haven property.
"Developers have moved to the suburbs rather than engaging in brownfield sites, just because of their worries of the pollution on those sites," Looney said.
The community has lots of ideas for the property, including green space, housing or industrial business.