This Week at the Capitol

So! You care about the environment, you care about what our legislators our doing at the capitol, and you tune in to the news, but maybe you still just don’t feel like you know what’s really going on this legislative session.

The Connecticut League of Conservation Voters will try to help. We’ll be running interviews with folks who care about the environment and are on the front lines at the Legislative Office Building.

This week we talked with David Bingham of Salem, co-chair of the Connecticut League of Conservation Voters. He’s also on the boards of the Sierra Club, Rivers Alliance, and the Nature Conservancy.

Click here or the image at left to hear our conversation.

As David wrote in his March 21^st op-ed for the New London Day,

“In a crisis, even a budget crisis, there is opportunity - for doing things better, or making them worse.”

You can read David’s op-ed here: http://www.theday.com/article/20100321/OP05/303219975.

Caution Urged on Expedited Permitting Proposal: A CTLCV Audio Interview

We’re in the midst of the 2010 legislative session, so important bills are starting to move through the legislative process.

We talked with Roger Reynolds, a senior attorney with the Connecticut Fund for the Environment, about an important bill in the Planning & Development Committee.  The bill is expected to be taken up by that committee on Monday afternoon, March 22.

It’s House Bill 5208, entitled “An Act Concerning Expedited Permitting for Economic Development.”

On the surface, it may sound like a good idea, but Roger points out its serious consequences for undermining longstanding environmental protection measures.

Click on the icon to listen in on our conversation.*

Care to call the Planning & Development Committee leaders?  Your opinion will have the most impact if you call before 1pm March 22.  You can reach them here:

• Co-Chair: Brendan Sharkey:
  Brendan.Sharkey@cga.ct.gov ; 860.240.8585
• Co-Chair: Eric D. Coleman:
  Eric.Coleman@cga.ct.gov ; 860-240-5302
• Vice Chair Jonathan Harris:
  Harris@senatedems.ct.gov ; 860-240-0567
• Vice Chair Thomas Drew:
  Thomas.Drew@cga.ct.gov; 860.240.8500
• Ranking Member Leonard A. Fasano:
  Len.fasano@cga.ct.gov; 800. 842-1421
• Ranking Member William Aman:
  Bill.Aman@cga.ct.gov; 860-240-8700

*We’re new at this so our audio quality is a work in progress.  Thanks for your patience!

A Primer on the Proposed New Britain Busway Project

We talked to Ryan Lynch, senior planner with the TriState Transportation Campaign, about the proposed New Britain Busway project.

It would be a roughly 10 mile route that runs between New Britain and Hartford, carry about 16,000 riders a day, reduce traffic on and around  I-84, and connect with local “feeder routes.”   But the effort has been facing opposition in some camps.

Listen in for a primer on what the New Britain Busway could mean for central Connecticut.  (Please allow a moment for the audio file to download).

For more on the busway project, see www.ctrapidtransit.com.  For more on the Tri State Transportation Campaign, see www.tstc.org.

CLICK HERE to listen, or use the new Yahoo Media Player below (press the play button).

Scorecard Alert: Reject the Rollbacks

CTLCV has posted an initial list of the environmental bills it is tracking thus far in the 2010 legislative session (www.ctlcv.org/watchlist). 

The CTLCV WatchList provides guidance throughout the legislative session about various bills' pro-or anti-environmental consequences.  The WatchList will be updated frequently as the session proceeds.

As Connecticut charts a path out of the current economic downturn, some have assumed this to be an invitation to un-do Connecticut's commitment to the environment.  Proposed bills that undermine permit standards, ignore the independence of DEP guidance and do away with public notice rules when selling state land aren't just bad for the environment, short-sighted and ill-conceived; they're bad government.

Connecticut can do better than that. 

On the other hand, proposals like those to support our clean energy industry, promote transit, and make our neighborhoods walkable and bike-able show that Connecticut can come up with ideas that are good for the environment and good for the economy.  As the state that likes to think of itself as having invented innovation, we have ample opportunities before us this session to walk the talk. 

The CTLCV WatchList is online at www.ctlcv.org/watchlist.htm.  It will be updated frequently throughout the 2010 legislative session.

11 am March 12th – You’re Invited!

Connecticut’s Green Jobs Makers

- Kelly Kennedy, CTLCV

Kudos to the Connecticut Fund for the Environment for assembling a Google map of Connecticut’s green industry.  Maybe it’s time for a new industry cluster so Connecticut can genuinely position itself for the inevitable shift to a clean energy economy.   We have clusters for bioscience, aerospace, software/IT, metal manufacturing, maritime, plastics, agriculture, and insurance & services.

Map Key
Red: Solar (design, installation, supply)
Aqua: Alternative Energy (geothermal, wind, other)
Yellow: Architecture, Green Building Design
Blue: Weatherization & Efficiency Retrofit, Builders
Pink: Electrical Efficiency & Lighting (consulting, installation, supply)
Green: Fuel cell, Research, Manufacturing
Purple: Development, Finance
---

Why not?  As the Department of Economic & Community Development website states,  the Industry Cluster Initiative “puts Connecticut companies on the fast track; develops the resources needed to compete globally; achieves sustained, measurable growth in jobs, education levels, start-ups and R&D funding; and ensures that positive results extend beyond a single contract, company or city.” 

It’s worrisome that aside from frequently noting the state’s high energy costs, the state’s Strategic Economic Development Plan says little about a vision and plan for developing the clean, green business sector, deferring mostly to Governor' Rell’s 2006 Energy Vision.

Anyway…  You can click on the green business map above to enlarge it.  And if you’re a part of Connecticut’s burgeoning green industry and you’re not listed, email CFE at survey@cfenv.org to get added to the map.

Broad Coalition Rallies for Action on Green Jobs

A broad coalition of environmental advocates and clean energy businesses united with legislative leaders yesterday to call for policies that will get Connecticut residents back to work in good, green jobs.

Some policies would cost nothing to adopt

While some of those policies would require some financial investment, others would require no financial expense at all. In many cases, the no-cost policies call only for planning, cooperation and communication.

Many no-cost, green jobs policies call only for planning, cooperation and communication, perennial shortcomings in Connecticut’s fragmented approach to government—shortcomings that have caught up with us in the form of out-of-control budget deficits.

Businesses call for state to “Stay the Course” to Develop & Support Ct’s clean Energy& energy efficiency Industries

If Connecticut is serious about being a major player in the new clean energy economy, it’s critical that legislators and the Governor stay the course and keep our focus on investing in energy efficiency and renewable energy. 

As businessman David Leishman, Chair of the Connecticut Chapter of the Northeast Energy Efficiency Council, pointed out, Connecticut’s energy efficiency programs have been rated number 1 in the country by the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (ACEEE).  Energy and energy efficiency businesses need to be able to count on those policies staying in place if they are to stay in business, hire or expand.

Chris Lenda from Aegis Electrical Systems added that in terms of supporting our home-grown clean energy industry, Connecticut is falling behind compared to nearby states.  New Jersey was mentioned several times as the new state leader in clean energy policy. 

Connecticut’s waffling on those pro-clean energy and pro-efficiency business policies, such as last year’s proposal to siphon off clean energy and energy efficiency funds and dump them into the general operating fund kitty, makes the industry more than a little uneasy. The same goes for this year’s proposal to securitize some of those clean energy funds. 

Policies that spur Good Green Jobs

Based on their report entitled “Building Connecticut’s Economic and Environmental Future,” the advocates call for policies to be enacted this legislative session that:

• Expand Connecticut’s solar industry to its full potential.
• Invest in energy efficiency and renewable energy to lower the cost of energy and develop reliable sources for the future.
• Create financing options to make it easier to invest in energy efficiency improvements and clean energy.
• Rebuild and repair our stormwater and sewage systems to clean up our water.
• Restore Long Island Sound habitat and water quality.
• Get toxins out of our environment .
• Manage our forests and open lands sustainably.
• Support our farms and farmers so we have  fresh, healthy and locally-grown  food.
• Create a 21st century transit system to provide reliable, rapid transportation between our towns and cities and to the northeast region.
• Make our communities more livable, walkable and sustainable.

Green Jobs Advocates

Groups speaking up for green jobs include:  American Farmland Trust • Audubon Connecticut • Clean Water Action • Connecticut Forest & Park Association • Connecticut League of Conservation Voters • Connecticut Fund for the Environment • Environment Connecticut • Environment Northeast • Rivers Alliance of Connecticut • Save the Sound • Sierra Club, Connecticut Chapter • The Nature Conservancy • Transit for Connecticut • Working Lands Alliance • 1000 Friends of Connecticut.