Free Daily Headlines :

  • COVID-19
  • Vaccine Info
  • Money
  • Politics
  • Education
  • Health
  • Justice
  • More
    • Environment
    • Economic Development
    • Gaming
    • Investigations
    • Social Services
    • TRANSPORTATION
  • Opinion
    • CT Viewpoints
    • CT Artpoints
DONATE
Reflecting Connecticut’s Reality.
    COVID-19
    Vaccine Info
    Money
    Politics
    Education
    Health
    Justice
    More
    Environment
    Economic Development
    Gaming
    Investigations
    Social Services
    TRANSPORTATION
    Opinion
    CT Viewpoints
    CT Artpoints

LET�S GET SOCIAL

Show your love for great stories and out standing journalism

Budget cuts could shut down tiny environmental watchdog

  • by Jan Ellen Spiegel
  • July 18, 2011
  • View as "Clean Read" "Exit Clean Read"

After a 40 year run, the Council on Environmental Quality–the state’s tiny environmental watchdog–could be put out of business by the governor’s budget-cutting plan and its responsibilities shifted to the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.

“It’s really very disheartening,” said Barbara Wagner, the chair of the all-volunteer board that oversees the Council and its two paid employees. “There’s no expectation or even intent to set aside an office that would have any appearance of impartiality or independence. It would be a watchdog within an agency.”

Office of Policy and Management Secretary Benjamin Barnes, Gov. Dannel Malloy’s budget chief, said it was the administration’s view that DEEP is itself an environmental watchdog, so it made sense to move CEQ’s responsibilities there. “The legislature has indicated it has found reporting by CEQ is helpful. A reasonable compromise would be to maintain it in this form,” he said. “We honestly felt we could satisfy the statutory requirements in a different way for less money.”

Eliminating the CEQ would save about $286,000 over the next two years, according to Malloy’s budget-cutting plan.

Barnes also said while he wasn’t belittling the role that CEQ plays, the General Assembly’s Environment Committee, the judiciary, and outside advocacy groups provide ample independent monitoring of the state’s environmental compliance.

“They do provide value,” he said of CEQ. “We eliminated it not because we think it is a bad thing. It is an easier thing to live without.”

But Wagner openly questioned whether the administration really understands CEQ’s function, noting that the governor’s original budget last winter proposed making CEQ part of the new DEEP beyond the administrative role the old Department of Environmental Protection has had all along. The legislature rejected that, opting to maintain CEQ’s independence.

The CEQ was created in 1971 along with the original DEP, to monitor the department by assessing the state’s environmental conditions and making improvement recommendations, to advise all state departments on environmental impacts of their projects and investigate environment-related complaints.

The council’s annual report is well-known and highly regarded in environmental circles, offering a broad picture of the state of Connecticut’s environment. It issues other special reports as needed, publishes a twice-monthly Environmental Monitor that includes required postings of environmental impact evaluations being undertaken by all state departments, and handles land transfers.

Acting on citizen complaints and other information the council has exposed private encroachment and illegal tree-cutting on state lands, which resulted in legislation that strengthened enforcement.

It exposed the lag in remediation of contaminated properties and wells that began with citizen complaints in Tylerville. Complaints about wetlands violations resulted in improved training requirements for municipal officials who handle wetlands protection.

“If you’re a citizen, it’s very hard to get DEP to pick up the phone,” said Roger Reynolds of the Connecticut Fund for the Environment. “CEQ picks up the phone. You go to their meeting, do your complaint and CEQ will get to the bottom of it.

“This is an incredibly efficient agency and has been incredibly valuable.”

Reynolds said it would be particularly important to maintain CEQ in these lean budget times as agencies cutback enforcement and expanded employee duties mean less time for each function.

Environment Committee co-chair Sen. Ed Meyer, D-Guilford, has asked Senate President Pro Tempore Donald Williams to make the elimination of CEQ one of those cuts the General Assembly will review in this budget-cutting process. Those decisions will come in the next few weeks.

“The poor little thing they always go after them,” said environment committee member Rep. Roberta Willis, D-Salisbury. “People don’t get what they do or how much they do.”

In the meantime, it is business as usual according to CEQ Executive Director Karl Wagener, who’s been in his position for 25 years. He and his assistant would lose their jobs for savings of $118,528 this fiscal year and $167,275 next year.

“No,  nothing’s on hold,” he said. “We’re continuing to work as we always do.”

The Council’s next public forum – its vehicle for fielding citizen concerns and suggestions – is scheduled for July 27 in Mansfield and will take place Wagener said.

“We’ve been given no direction, so we’re continuing on.”

Sign up for CT Mirror's free daily news summary.

Free to Read. Not Free to Produce.

The Connecticut Mirror is a nonprofit newsroom. 90% of our revenue comes from people like you. If you value our reporting please consider making a donation. You'll enjoy reading CT Mirror even more knowing you helped make it happen.

YES, I'LL DONATE TODAY

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jan Ellen Spiegel

SEE WHAT READERS SAID

RELATED STORIES
Republicans on key committee oppose no-excuse absentee ballot voting
by Mark Pazniokas

Republicans signaled Friday they will try to block fast-track action on a constitutional amendment allowing no-excuse voting by absentee ballot.

Aid-in-dying bill clears key hurdle with committee passage
by Jenna Carlesso

The bill would let terminally ill patients access medication to end their lives.

Ned Lamont’s year in the shadow of COVID
by Mark Pazniokas

Ned Lamont has been the face, voice, and interpreter of the COVID crisis, mourning deaths, explaining setbacks and cautiously celebrating.

Connecticut should work to reduce rates of inmate calling services 
by David Lamendola

Many telecommunications issues are really complicated and only interesting to a handful of policy-oriented folks. But once in a while an issue arises that has easily understandable implications for all of society. High rates for inmate calling services (ICS) is one of these issues. The way it usually works is that an incarcerated person make collect calls from detention facilities, and their family pays the bill. Unfortunately, some providers charge extremely high rates for these calls – a 15 minute phone call to a loved one costs an incarcerated person $5 in Connecticut.

The public health bill no one is talking about, but should be
by Brian Festa

On February 16,  the legislature's Public Health Committee conducted a public hearing on two bills, S.B. 568 and H.B. 6423, both of which would eliminate the religious exemption to mandatory vaccinations for Connecticut schoolchildren.  The hearing was capped at 24 hours, depriving nearly 1,500 members of the public who had registered for the hearing their opportunity to be heard.  The vast majority of those who did testify, and who submitted written testimony, opposed the bill.  The committee is expected to vote on the bill as early as  today. 

Support Our Work

Show your love for great stories and outstanding journalism.

$
Select One
  • Monthly
  • Yearly
  • Once
Artpoint painter
CT ViewpointsCT Artpoints
Opinion The public health bill no one is talking about, but should be
by Brian Festa

On February 16,  the legislature's Public Health Committee conducted a public hearing on two bills, S.B. 568 and H.B. 6423, both of which would eliminate the religious exemption to mandatory vaccinations for Connecticut schoolchildren.  The hearing was capped at 24 hours, depriving nearly 1,500 members of the public who had registered for the hearing their opportunity to be heard.  The vast majority of those who did testify, and who submitted written testimony, opposed the bill.  The committee is expected to vote on the bill as early as  today. 

Opinion Students need more resources, fewer officers
by Tenille Bonilla

"School resource officer" is just a nice way to say cop. But what students really need is more resource and less officer.

Opinion The Board of Regents’ changes must not shortchange its students or faculty
by Carrie Andreoletti, PhD

As a university professor and a lifespan developmental psychologist, I tend to approach my work from a developmental perspective. This means I aim to foster a lifelong love of learning and to help others find a sense of meaning and purpose, as well as confidence in their ability to reach their goals. My approach to higher education is shaped by my desire to provide the best possible education for my students. This is why the recent Board of Regents’ proposed changes at the four state universities have me worried.

Opinion How to close schooling opportunity gaps created by the pandemic
by Carol Gale

We ask school district leaders to trust your public servants whose daily work life involves assessing student needs and planning or modifying instruction to meet those needs. Listen to their voices, as we have, and allocate precious resources on interventions that will offer increased opportunities for Hartford students to succeed.

Artwork Grand guidance
by Anne:Gogh

In a world of systemic oppression aimed towards those of darker skintones – representation matters. We are more than our equity elusive environments, more than numbers in a prison and much more than victims of societal dispositions. This piece depicts a melanated young man draped in a cape ascending high above multiple forms of oppression. […]

Artwork Shea
by Anthony Valentine

Shea is a story about race and social inequalities that plague America. It is a narrative that prompts the question, “Do you know what it’s like to wake up in new skin?”

Artwork The Declaration of Human Rights
by Andres Chaparro

Through my artwork I strive to create an example of ideas that reflect my desire to raise social consciousness, and cultural awareness. Jazz music is the catalyst to all my work, and plays a major influence in each piece of work.”

Artwork ‘A thing of beauty. Destroy it forever’
by Richard DiCarlo | Derby

During times like these it’s often fun to revisit something familiar and approach things with a different slant. I have been taking some Pop culture and Art masterpieces and applying the vintage 1960’s and 70’s classic figures (Fisher Price, little people) to the make an amusing pieces. Here is my homage to Fisher -Price, Yellow […]

Twitter Feed
A Twitter List by CTMirror

Engage

  • Reflections Tickets & Sponsorships
  • Events
  • Donate
  • Newsletter Sign-Up
  • Submit to Viewpoints
  • Submit to ArtPoints
  • Economic Indicator Dashboard
  • Speaking Engagements
  • Commenting Guidelines
  • Legal Notices
  • Contact Us

About

  • About CT Mirror
  • Announcements
  • Board
  • Staff
  • Sponsors and Funders
  • Donors
  • Friends of CT Mirror
  • History
  • Financial
  • Policies
  • Strategic Plan

Opportunity

  • Advertising and Sponsorship
  • Speaking Engagements
  • Use of Photography
  • Work for Us

Go Deeper

  • Steady Habits Podcast
  • Economic Indicator Dashboard
  • Five Things

The Connecticut News Project, Inc. 1049 Asylum Avenue, Hartford, CT 06105. Phone: 860-218-6380

© Copyright 2021, The Connecticut News Project. All Rights Reserved. Website by Web Publisher PRO