In Hartford today, one in six children go hungry. Asthma rates are sky high.

Hartford, the capital of one of the richest states in the U.S., is one of our nation’s poorest cities. This low-income environmental justice community, with a population that is 85% minority, is burdened with several polluting facilities and heavy traffic, leading to extremely poor air quality. This inequity has real consequences, including daily public health impacts. A child cannot learn while hungry, and cannot thrive while struggling to breathe. We owe these children a fair chance at success in life.

The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) “Environmental Justice Affecting Facilities” map shows polluting facilities overlaid on the distressed municipalities in our state. This reveals the historic discrimination and cumulative impacts shockingly well. The high asthma rates are one clear indication of the health consequences of long-term exposure to air pollution in Hartford.

Hartford, Bridgeport, New Haven – three cities with large populations of minority, low income residents – have historically been burdened with most of the polluting facilities in Connecticut including power plants, waste incinerators, and others. Add to that the increased pollution from congested highway traffic and the resulting air is full of dangerous particulates and chemicals. Nitrous oxide, CO2, methane, and other greenhouse gases nudge the meter on our warming planet ever higher. This impacts us all. All eight Connecticut counties have scored poor grades for air quality and ozone levels from the American Lung Association (ALA).

Our leaders have promised to reduce these pollutants for everyone’s sake, especially those living in the most polluted areas. They pass laws with laudable goals, but our state is falling behind the rest of New England in meeting these targets.

In Executive Order 21-3, Gov. Ned Lamont set strong goals for greenhouse gas reductions and committed the state to “lead by example” by requiring that new state buildings, or those being renovated, use clean and efficient energy saving improvements to have our state act as a model for private building owners. This order has now been codified in law, with the passage of H.B. 5004, now Public Act No. 25-125, signed by the governor on July 1.

The Capitol Area System (CAS) is set next to I-84 in downtown Hartford. The power plant, once a major source of air pollution, now heats and cools a group of 16 buildings in the Frog Hollow area. Most of the buildings are state-owned, including the Legislative Office Building and the State Office Building. CAS was purchased by the state of Connecticut in 2022, with the goal of refurbishing the aging facility to make it an energy efficient source of heating and cooling. The need is even more urgent due to the history of inequity and polluting infrastructure in Hartford.

Today, the state has before it a choice between clean, renewable energy options, or reverting to methane facilities, which would lock the CAS into dirty fuel for decades to come.

A geothermal network would be a great fit for this group of buildings. Using the natural ground temperature, a renewable energy source, instead of fossil fuels like oil or methane, will save money and lives. The savings on medical costs alone is priceless.

What better place to “lead by example” than by modelling what the transition to clean energy looks like, and showing our commitment to a cleaner, more equitable state, while improving the health of Hartford’s children (and everyone else)?

Most recently our state legislature has sped up the timeline for greenhouse gas emission reduction and added targets to help us get there. They have allocated more help to distressed cities and towns that are overburdened. The governor has already made a strong commitment in Executive Order 21-3, which is now codified in P.A. No. 25-125. There is no better time than now for him to show that he is willing to follow through on his commitment to the children of Hartford.

The Capitol Area System can play an important role in our state’s transition to a clean and renewable energy future and serve as a model for other aging energy facilities. I urge our governor and the Department of Administrative Services to reconsider their tentative decision to use methane boilers and instead, to truly lead by renovating the Capitol Area System with clean and renewable geothermal.

Susan Eastwood of Ashford is Chair of the Sierra Club Connecticut.