For five years, business, environmental and state organizations have collaborated on regulations to protect water levels in our rivers and streams in a way that’s good for all of Connecticut, over the long run. Now lobbyists who oppose any cohesive approach to managing our rivers have introduced a bill that would force the five-year streamflow regulation process to start all over.
If you’ve ever thought that Connecticut just can’t get out of its own way to get anything worthwhile accomplished, this kind of self-serving, anti-collaborative behavior explains why that is too often the case.
Bill 1020, An Act Concerning Water Resources and Economic Development, was discussed in a public hearing of the legislature's Commerce Committee on February 25 (testimony here). In applying a simplistic, one-factor analysis (today’s costs), the Commerce Committee appears to be leaning toward keeping the bill alive by voting it out of committee.
Water companies, which profit by selling us water, want to keep reservoir levels up by preventing the release of water downstream. Problem is, fish and other aquatic life don’t survive when streams dry out or run low, impacting the rivers they feed into – as well as the tourism and recreational sectors that rely on water. Add some drought to all the other residential and industrial demands for water, and of course rivers and streams take a hit. If you want to talk economics, let’s be sure to consider the economic costs of failing to manage our waterways.
Water is a resource that’s pretty essential to life as we know it. You can weigh in. Take action today to protect Connecticut’s rivers and streams.
Call or email the Commerce Committee to say you want five years of science-based, multi-stakeholder collaboration on streamflow regulations to wrap up now, not start over.
Tell the Commerce Committee you want five years of science-based, multi-stakeholder collaboration on streamflow regulations to wrap up now, not start over: Reject HB 1020 and let the streamflow regulation process continue to completion this session.
Commerce Committee : 860-240-0380
Dist. | Title | First name | Last name | Capitol phone | |
19 | Rep. | Brian | Becker | 860-240-8585 | |
73 | Rep. | Jeffrey | Berger | 860-240-8585 | |
151 | Rep. | Fred | Camillo | 860-240-8700 | |
47 | Rep. | Christopher | Coutu | 860-240-8700 | |
17 | Sen. | Joseph | Crisco | 860-240-0189 | |
71 | Rep. | Anthony | D'Amelio | 860-240-8700 | |
36 | Sen. | L. Scott | Frantz | 860-240-8800 | |
104 | Rep. | Linda | Gentile | 860-240-0553 | |
54 | Rep. | Gregory | Haddad | 860-240-8585 | |
37 | Rep. | Ed | Jutila | 860-240-8585 | |
21 | Sen. | Kevin | Kelly | 860-240-8800 | |
3 | Sen. | Gary | LeBeau | 860-240-0511 | |
74 | Rep. | Selim | Noujaim | 860-240-8700 | |
61 | Rep. | Elaine | O'Brien | 860-240-8585 | |
137 | Rep. | Chris | Perone | 860-240-8585 | |
130 | Rep. | Ezequiel | Santiago | 860-240-0544 | |
68 | Rep. | Sean | Williams | 860-240-8700 | |
81 | Rep. | Bruce | Zalaski | 860-240-8585 |