Opening Day: February 3, 2010

By Lori Brown, CTLCV Executive Director

Opening day!

The legislative session opened last week as it always does—with the feel of the first day of high school. Legislators, lobbyists, staffers, environmental advocates and every other kind of advocate greeted, hugged, laughed, plotted and generally saw each other publicly for the first time in months.

As the Governor gave her opening address, a number of the environmental advocates working on the green jobs effort gathered around a television set in the Capitol listening for some indication about the Governor’s environmental priorities.

She mentioned a few priority concerns: credit availability, renewable energy, and workforce. She had a few program initiatives under each, but nothing especially sweeping to change our current budget. But the most entertaining moment was when the Governor invoked Kermit the Frog’s famous quote about being green. We’re not sure about using a fictional puppet as the icon for Connecticut’s energy policy, but even so, we all really liked the fact that energy and green jobs were part of her opening remarks.

Shortly after the Governor’s speech, the environment committee held its first meeting of the session in the Legislative Office Building. The purpose of the meeting was to raise “concepts” that would have a public hearing. One legislator, Clark Chapin, bemoaned the large number of issues, noting that the environment committee had a reputation for putting too much on the table. Just goes to show how much needs to get done….

The bottom line is that the race is on. In a short session and in an election year, the environmental leaders at the Capitol have a narrow window of opportunity to get some good things done. Our environmental issues (transportation, water infrastructure, parks, renewable energy, etc.) can often help “solve” our economic and state budget issues. Legislators should embrace good environmental policy as a part of good economic policy. We will be working with all of our environmental colleagues to do all that we can to ensure smart, environmentally sustainable laws get passed this year.

And just as a reminder, our Environmental Scorecard will be re-released later this month to bolster our friends and shine a light on some dark corners and not so-good decisions.