The solar compensation policy that nearly derailed major energy legislation last session is back for a new go-round this session.
Jan Ellen Spiegel
Jan Ellen is CT Mirror's regular freelance Environment and Energy Reporter. As a freelance reporter, her stories have also appeared in The New York Times, The Boston Globe, Yale Climate Connections, and elsewhere. She is a former editor at The Hartford Courant, where she handled national politics including coverage of the controversial 2000 and 2004 presidential elections. She was an editor at the Gazette in Colorado Springs and spent more than 20 years as a TV and radio producer at CBS News and CNN in New York and in the Boston broadcast market. In 2013 she was the recipient of a Knight Journalism Fellowship at MIT on energy and climate. She graduated from the University of Michigan and attended Boston University’s graduate film program.
Posted inEnergy & Environment
Nuclear wins big in clean energy competition – and not just Millstone
The final clean energy competition of the Malloy administration on Friday handed the Millstone Nuclear Power Station the lifeline it has sought for nearly two years claiming the plant was at risk of closing otherwise. In a blow to the environmental advocacy community, renewable power projects were awarded fewer than 20 percent of the total power production up for bid.
Posted inEnergy & Environment, Politics
PURA chair Katie Dykes named DEEP commissioner
In naming Katie Dykes as commissioner of the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, Gov.-elect Ned Lamont has chosen a person who is well known at DEEP. But she comes with much more of an energy than strict environmental background.
Posted inEnergy & Environment
CT’s clean energy battles transition from Malloy to Lamont
Efforts by the Malloy administration to move towards more renewable energy to help fight climate change are poised to shift to the Gov.-elect Ned Lamont, who has even more aggressive goals. But the battles the Malloy administration fought with the utilities for eight years, which are still unresolved, also are also poised to shift to the new governor.
Posted inEnergy & Environment
Connecticut’s vanishing shoreline: Towns trying to beat the odds
Shoreline resiliency against sea level rise and flooding in Connecticut is largely in the hands of local governments. But with money tight and local budgets reliant on the taxes shoreline properties generate, efforts to protect coastal communities from climate change have been slow and underfunded. Some communities, however, are making more progress than others.
Posted inEnergy & Environment
Connecticut’s vanishing shoreline: One storm away from disaster
Connecticut is fortunate it hasn’t been hit by a tropical-style storm since the successive storms of Irene and Sandy in 2011 and 2012 swamped the coastline, illuminating its vulnerabilities to the effects of climate change. That’s because there’s a general consensus that if either of those storms were to hit now, they would be just as damaging.
Posted inEnergy & Environment
CT poised to catch brunt of Trump’s auto standard rollbacks
The Trump administration has unveiled its proposal to dramatically weaken auto emission and efficiency standards. Few states will feel the consequences of it more than Connecticut.
Posted inEnergy & Environment
Connecticut joins the offshore wind rush
Connecticut joined the offshore wind energy world Wednesday, awarding its first project to Deepwater Wind for a 200-megawatt installation off the coast. It comes with economic development enticements for New London and its port — and the potential for some 1,400 jobs.
Posted inEnergy & Environment
After near derailment, energy bill heads to governor as fence-mending begins
Updated at 6:25 p.m.
After a near-death experience, energy legislation that will fundamentally change how renewable energy is valued financially in Connecticut passed the state House early Wednesday morning and is now headed to the governor for his expected signature. The legislature also completed action on an environmental bill.
Posted inEnergy & Environment
Energy bill sails through Senate over ferocious opposition by environmental, solar groups
After months of acrimonious wrangling over a new energy policy already delayed by more than a year, the Connecticut Senate overwhelming passed a plan that will fundamentally reimagine how the state values the solar energy people generate on their roofs.
Posted inEnergy & Environment
Energy bill still embroiled in controversy but probably heading to the floor
With only days to spare, the most consequential energy legislation in years appears to be just about ready for a vote in the General Assembly. But even with massive revisions, it is still facing controversy.
Posted inEnergy & Environment
EPA plan to ease car emission standards would affect CT more than most
The Environmental Protection Agency’s plans to ease auto emissions standards has particular resonance for Connecticut, with the potential to force the state to accept cars that are more polluting than it wants and make its notoriously bad air even worse.
Posted inEnergy & Environment
Despite dissatisfaction, committee sends energy bill to the floor
The Energy and Technology Committee Thursday voted to send major energy legislation to the full legislature for consideration, despite widespread dissatisfaction with the bill as it exists now. The approval came after assurances from committee leadership that the bill would be revised further before it’s debated on the floor.
Posted inEnergy & Environment
Energy bill heads for committee showdown, uncertain future
With the Energy and Technology Committee’s approval deadline for bills this session on Thursday, committee leaders, the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, the governor’s office and environmental advocates are racing the clock on one of the most consequential energy bills in years. Solar policy could stop them — again.
Posted inEnergy & Environment
Solar is again the flashpoint in CT’s new energy strategy
The final version of Connecticut’s new energy strategy and the bills that would implement it are before the legislature. So is a controversy that has dogged the plan since it was first released – solar policy.
