Hartford Business Journal

www.HartfordBusiness.com • May 18, 2020 • Hartford Business Journal 13 allowing digester owners to receive valuable energy credits they can sell. Connecticut has also carved out millions of dollars in utility bill cred- its for farms that have digesters, and more recently, has allowed digest- ers to bid for long-term renewable energy power purchase contracts directed by the state. Pipeline prospects In anaerobic digestion, microorgan- isms break down waste in an oxygen- less environment, producing natural fertilizer as well as a mixture of meth- ane and carbon dioxide called biogas. Many digester operators use that gas to produce electricity that can be used or sold. That's the case at Quantum, which uses some of the energy on-site, but sells the bulk of it to the town of Southington to help power various municipal buildings. Quantum is exploring a potentially more profitable way to use the biogas: purifying it to utility standards and in- jecting it into the natural gas pipeline. Gas utilities in California started ac- cepting biomethane in 2018, and even out-of-state producers can qualify for the above-market incentives in that state's Low Carbon Fuel Standard pro- gram, which issues tradeable energy credits that have spiked in value over the past few years as fuel standards there have grown stricter. While California leads the pack on biomethane, Oregon recently cre- ated its own low-carbon program, and other states may follow suit, Paganini predicts. "More [low-carbon] programs will be popping up in the future," he said. Biomethane may be on the hori- zon in Connecticut. Last year, Quantum successfully lobbied state legislators to order utility regulators to develop quality and inter- connection standards for biomethane that can be injected into the natural gas distribution system. The Public Utilities Regulatory Authority has a Sept. 2021 deadline to finish that task. Paganini said that producing pipe- line quality biomethane would require Quantum to invest approximately $3 million in new technology. The com- pany is evaluating the opportunity. "There is definitely thought about it," he said. It would likely be a more profitable use of the plant's biogas, though connection costs and other factors could impact the math, he added. Supply needed Connecticut was the first state in 2014 to mandate the removal and separate recycling of organic waste from large commercial producers' trash streams. The law originally applied to any operation producing 104 tons or more of food waste per year, so long as it was within 20 miles of a pro- cessing facility. Starting this year, the rules began applying to produc- ers of 52 tons per year or higher. It's unclear how many additional businesses are now subject to the rules, but Paganini said Quantum, which has 51 customers, has not yet seen any major increase in demand. He suspects some businesses aren't following the rules, and he wants the state to step up enforcement, perhaps by adding fines for noncompliance. DEEP has taken a softer approach that Frigon calls "compliance as- sistance." "We have inspectors who go out and discuss the benefits of organ- ics diversion with the producers," Frigon said. "The process takes an understanding on the part of the generator that they could save mon- ey and be environmentally friendly." Beyond adding some teeth to the organics mandate, a larger step would be expanding it to residences. That would involve each home having a dedicated organics con- tainer, the contents of which haulers would collect at the curb along with recyclables and trash. "The residential side is the next frontier for food waste," Paganini said. Such rules would likely spur more investment in anaerobic digesters, as investors could be certain that there would be an adequate supply of organic fuel. "These facilities live and die on volume coming into the front door," he said. "We need a hard and fast, stringent diversion mandate." Any such mandate would have to come from the legislature, but Frigon said DEEP supports the concept. "The department supports any efforts toward food-waste diversion," she said. Pilot programs in the state have shown that it can be a challenge for residents to make it a habit to separate their organic waste. "I think the challenge is consis- tency," she said. The other hurdle is contamination. Just like some residents throw plastic bags or other nonrecyclables into their single-stream bins, some people will inevitably toss waste that is not compostable into their organics bins, she said. THE LIST Largest employee-benefits consultants in Greater Hartford Ranked by number of local licensed employee-benefits consultants as of April, 2020 Largest employee-benefits consultants in Greater Hartford (Ranked by number of local licensed employee-benefits consultants as of April, 2020) Rank Consultant Local licensed consultants/ Total Local employees/ Total Insurance/ Investment services Services offered Top local executive(s)/ Year founded 1 USI Consulting Group 95 Glastonbury Blvd. Glastonbury, CT 06033 860-633-5283; www.usicg.com 85 154 270 7,000 Y Y 401K and defined contribution, benefit and actuarial, consulting, brokerage, underwriting, analytical, wellness, investment strategies, regulatory and compliance, employee communications and enrollment Bill Tremko President & CEO 1975 2 Willis Towers Watson (a) 10 State House Square, 11th Floor Hartford, CT 06103 860-278-1320; willistowerswatson.com 50 NA 100 45,000 Y Y Brokerage and consulting services Todd Granger Broker and advisory northeast region leader 1828 3 Milliman Inc. (a) 80 Lamberton Road Windsor, CT 06095 860-687-2110; www.milliman.com 38 800 147 6,000 N N Consulting services for employee benefits, investment, compensation, health, life, financial, property and casualty Rebecca A. Sielman Principal & consulting actuary 1947 4 OneDigital Health & Benefits (a) 5 Batterson Park Road, Suite 1 Farmington, CT 06032 860-409-7200; www.onedigital.com 29 1,273 49 1,800 Y Y Plan and risk management, regulatory compliance, plan design, medical-management evaluations, financial analysis, benchmarking, technology solutions, customized workforce health programs, eligibility and enrollment administration Emily Bailey Managing principal 2002 5 PASI LLC 10 Talcott Notch Road Farmington, CT 06032 860-284-6880; www.pasiusa.com 27 28 49 1,800 N N Consulting, design, compliance and administration of 401K, 403B, 457, non-qualified, cash balance and defined benefit, benchmarking, education and communication and record-keeping support Ron Fishman David Wetsman David Beck Bryce Raymond Quynhchau (Q) Le Partners 1996 6 Pension Consultants, Inc. 74 Batterson Park Road Farmington, CT 06032 860-676-8000; mypensionconsultants.com 25 25 34 34 N N Administration and consulting for 401(k) and all types of defined- contribution plans, in-house actuarial for defined-benefit and cash- balance plans William J. Anastasiades Frank P. Rossi 1971 7 Hooker & Holcombe 1300 Hall Blvd., Suite 1C Bloomfield, CT 06002 860-521-8400; www.hhconsultants.com 21 21 64 64 N Y (b) Consulting and administration for all types of qualified and non-qualified retirement plans; independent investment advisory services and financial wellness education programs Richard S. Sych President 1956 8 Mercer Health and Benefits 20 Church St. Hartford, CT 06103 860-723-5770; www.mercer.com 20 20 30 30 Y Y Brokerage, consulting, outsourcing, investments, strategic program development and implementation, private active and retiree exchange solutions Dawn O'Shaughnessy Principal, Hartford office leader 1937 9 Fiduciary Investment Advisors LLC 100 Northfield Drive, 4th Floor Windsor, CT 06095 860-683-1187; www.fiallc.com 18 22 71 76 N Y Investment advisory and co-fiduciary services for 401(k), 403(b) and defined-benefit plan sponsors, nonprofits and private clients Mark Wetzel President 2006 10 Smith Brothers Insurance LLC 68 National Drive Glastonbury, CT 06033 860-652-3235; smithbrothersusa.com 17 23 147 196 Y Y Independent insurance and financial services agency, business and personal insurance, employee benefits, surety, 401(k) and risk management Joseph B. Smith President & CEO 1971 11 Gallagher (a) 100 Northfield Drive, 2nd Floor Windsor, CT 06095 860-731-5566; www.ajg.com 15 NA 20 27,000 Y Y Insurance brokerage, risk management and employee benefits services John Scholl Area president 1927 11 May, Bonee & Clark (a) 180 Glastonbury Blvd. Glastonbury, CT 06033 860-430-3700; www.mayboneeclark.com 15 15 20 20 Y Y Insurance and financial planning agency, employee and executive benefits including medical, dental, life, long- and short-term disability, long-term care and 401(k), employee retirement plans Daniel Clark Ryan Friedman Principals 1985 13 The Schuster Group 135 South Road Farmington, CT 06032 860-409-7520; www.schustergroupne.com 14 16 31 33 Y Y Brokerage and consulting firm in the areas of employee benefits, institutional co-fiduciary retirement services and human resources (c) Rollin G. Schuster President 1993 14 The Hilb Group of New England, LLC dba eBenefits Group NE 30 Mill St. Unionville, CT 06085 860-675-4227; ebenefitsgroup.com 13 45 13 13 Y Y Full-service employee benefits Stephen J. Repka II Agency leader 1995 15 Robert Hensley & Associates 10 Avon Meadow Lane, Suite 1 Avon, CT 06001 860-678-1090; hensleyassociates.com 12 12 6 12 Y Y Employee benefits including medical, dental, life, short- and long-term disability and long-term care insurance, retirement plans, asset management and individual insurance Robert S. Hensley Managing member 1991 Source: Each consultant via survey. Note: NA = Not available. (a) Data from 2019 survey (b) Institutional investment advisory and individual financial planning. (c) Founder of TANGO, a platform to help nonprofit organizations. —Compiled by Timothy Doyle. Source: Each consultant via survey. Note: NA = Not available. (a) Data from 2019 survey (b) Institutional investment advisory and individual financial planning. (c) Founder of TANGO, a platform to help nonprofit organizations. —Compiled by Timothy Doyle. What's in Connecticut's municipal solid waste stream? Food waste and other organics make up nearly 800,000 tons of Connecticut's annual municipal solid waste. The state has been working to divert those materials ahead of time. Category Tons Paper 539,493 Food waste 519,832 Other wastes 291,940 Construction debris 276,995 Plastic 275,613 Other organics 258,922 Metal 82,443 Glass 58,512 Household hazardous waste 16,943 Electronics 11,906 Total 2,332,599 Source: DEEP, 2015 waste survey

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