Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) has asked the Bush Administration to hand over documents detailing any contacts the White House may have had related to a controversial underwater transmission cable system linking Connecticut to Long Island that remains idled as its operator works to bury the cable to required depths.

“It has come to my attention that the White House has demonstrated a continued strong interest in the status of the Cross Sound Cable project,” wrote DeLauro in a Jan. 9 letter sent to James Connaughton, chairman of the Council on Environmental Quality.

DeLauro asked the White House to supply her with copies of all phone logs or records of conversations, written communication, correspondence, memoranda, e-mail or “any other document reviewed or generated in the Executive Office of the President, the Council on Environmental Quality, and the White House Task Force on Energy Project Streamlining concerning the Cross Sound Cable Project.”

The transmission line was supposed to be up and running by last summer, but has been delayed as Cross Sound Cable struggles to meet depth levels required under federal and state permits issued for the project. “Regardless of the company’s effort to come into compliance, the fact remains that they have not met the basic requirements outlined in these permits,” DeLauro said. The lawmaker also asserted that Cross Sound Cable “has yet to compile a suitable plan to complete the installation.”

According to DeLauro, Cross Sound Cable on Nov. 15 sent a letter seeking “the assistance of the White House Task Force on Energy Project Streamlining to expedite a resolution to the permitting delays they have experienced.”

In the letter, Cross Sound Cable noted an emergency order issued by Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham in August 2002. The order, which expired on Oct. 1, 2002, directed that the operation of the cable be a last resort after terminating service to interruptible customers, appealing to the public for conservation, reducing 30 minute reserves to zero, and implementing voltage reductions consistent with good utility practice. “I believe it is important to note that the cable was not energized at any time while the order was in effect,” wrote DeLauro.

“While energy interests are of national concern, I am seriously concerned by the Administration’s interest in a project that has such serious implications at the local level,” the lawmaker said. “The residents of Connecticut deserve to know the extent of and the reasoning behind the Administration’s involvement in this project.”

Meanwhile, Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal on Thursday also weighed in on the White House Task Force on Energy Project Streamlining’s role in the Cross Sound Cable project.

Blumenthal called for “an immediate investigation by the Department of Energy Inspector General and the Department of Justice of this improper and potentially illegal misconduct by White House officials and TransEnergie.” Cross Sound Cable is a unit of TransEnergie U.S. Ltd.

Blumenthal said that the task force “is steamrolling, not streamlining, the federal process — improperly interfering at the behest of an energy company that is manipulating and misleading federal officials.”

Cross Sound Cable recently pulled an application pending before the Connecticut Siting Council that sought the authority to operate the line while the company works to bury the cable to required depths.

The company withdrew the petition after receiving a letter from the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). “We received a letter from DEP stating that they had some procedural concerns and we decided that we would go back and address those before we proceeded with the siting council,” said Cross Sound Cable spokesperson Rita Bowlby.

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