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).