With its current exhibit on the effects of climate change, Greenwich’s Bruce Museum set just the right tone for the Connecticut League of Conservation Voters to honor retiring State Senator William Nickerson on Friday evening, October 17.CTLCV honored Nickerson with its "Connecticut Land Air and Water Award" for his longstanding commitment to conserving Connecticut’s natural resources. CTLCV Co-Chair and one-time gubernatorial candidate Julie Belaga presented Nickerson with the award.
CTLCV’s Greenwich board members George Host, Cheryl Dunson, Holt Thrasher and Peter Moss were also on hand to extend their appreciation. The award event drew a crowd of about a hundred pro-environment voters from the Greenwich area.
Senator Nickerson served in the Connecticut General Assembly for 22 years, representing Greenwich for four years in the House and eighteen years in the Senate. During that time he worked under four Governors and cast over 11,000 votes.
In the Senate, Nickerson served as Chief Deputy Minority Leader, Ranking Member of the Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee, and as a member of the Transportation Committee, the Legislative Management Committee, and on the State Bond Commission.
The many environmental achievements on Nickerson’s résumé came about through his persistence in securing the state funding necessary to make them happen. Some of Nickerson’s feats include working to acquire open space that included Kelda water company lands, persuading the state to fund the purchase of new commuter rail cars for the New Haven Line, and underwriting the Department of Environmental Protection’s Clean Water Fund.
At Friday’s gathering Nickerson also underscored his opposition to the Broadwater Liquefied Natural Gas project, calling its prevention a tremendous success because it would have been a “menace to navigation, a security threat and an environmental hazard in the middle of Connecticut’s crown jewel, Long Island Sound.”
Nickerson reflected that “As we move forward, no issue will be as important to the citizens of this country and state as energy. It impacts our security, economy, and health as do the related issues of global warming and mass transportation.”
Nickerson observed that “For too long America and Connecticut have been a society of one person, one car, driving everywhere, every day. That’s not working. Driving affects climate change and CO2 emissions. It affects our economy. Transportation is not just about roads. We don’t connect our roads, our rail, our airport, and we don’t make them work together. And we’re going to have to do that.”
On an evening where many in attendance were delayed on I-95 and the Merritt Parkway, mere ribbons of cars stretching farther than the eye could see, the crowd couldn’t have agreed more.
Nickerson’s award coincides with the launch of CTLCV’s “Senator Bill Nickerson Legacy Fund.” That fund will underwrite the education and advocacy work on sustainable energy policy that CTLCV and its educational affiliate, the CTLCV Education Fund, will ramp up beginning in 2009.
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