With huge quantities of snow lining Connecticut roads, the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection is giving cities and towns an option for getting rid of it — dump it in the water.
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, Money
Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative resets pollution cap
The nine member states of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative — the nation’s first power plant emissions reduction and trading program — have opted for a new lower cap on those emissions, the strictest one they were considering.
Posted inEnergy & Environment, Money
CEQ barely hangs on in governor’s budget
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s budget leaves the Council on Environmental Quality, the state’s environmental watchdog, hanging on by its fingernails.
Posted inEnergy & Environment, Money, Politics
Former CT DEP chief may take over at EPA
Connecticut’s former top environmental official — Gina McCarthy — is reported to be leading the short list to take over the top slot at the Environmental Protection Agency. McCarthy currently runs the air division there as the assistant administrator for the Office of Air and Radiation. Reuters is reporting that President Obama is leaning toward […]
Posted inEnergy & Environment, Money
Moving the goal post on state vehicle efficiency
What do you do when you keep falling short of the goal? One solution would be to move the goal posts closer — and that’s what the Department of Administrative Services is trying to do regarding the fuel efficiency of the fleet vehicles it manages. There has been a law on the books for more […]
Posted inNews
Shoreline Task Force recommendations face financial and other difficulties
A year ago, with the destruction of Tropical Storm Irene still raw, Rep. James Albis, D-East Haven, took a look at computer modeling that showed his district after a category 2 hurricane. It was pretty much underwater. So Albis suggested forming a task force to look at the spectrum of issues around managing the Connecticut […]
Posted inEnergy & Environment, Money
A new tool in the clean energy toolbox
It’s called commercial and industrial property assessed clean energy — a mouthful of jargon that doesn’t tell the uninitiated much, even with its acronym C-PACE. It’s actually a reasonably innovative way to finance energy efficiency and clean energy systems and upgrades with low interest loans that are paid back through assessments added to property tax […]
Posted inEnergy & Environment, Money
Microgrid project draws three-dozen applications
Connecticut’s first-in-the-nation microgrid pilot project received some three-dozen applications by Wednesday’s deadline, according to the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. Most were from cities and towns, including some with multiple submissions; but there were also some from universities, hospitals, companies, a state transit facility, Tweed airport, the Navy sub base and even an as-yet-to-be-built […]
Posted inNews
Microgrid project deadline nears. Do communities understand the concept?
Norwich – It was only for a few hours during Tropical Storm Irene, but the William W. Backus Hospital here still got a hard lesson on what losing power in the heat of summer meant. While the hospital has emergency generators, “they’re not large enough to power everything,” said Keith Fontaine, vice president and chief […]
Posted inNews
Thousands face mandatory flood insurance in new mapping
Old Saybrook — In the nearly 30 years Bob and Judy Raffalo have lived across the street from Knollwood Beach in Old Saybrook, not a single storm — not Gloria, not Irene, not Sandy — has resulted in a drop of water in their home. In fact the Federal Emergency Management Agency has never even […]
Posted inEnergy & Environment, Money
Solar companies in Connecticut said to be under investigation
At least two major firms that do solar installations in Connecticut are among three that are under investigation by the U.S. Treasury Department, according to a report in the Washington Post and in several other publications. SolarCity, which just a week ago announced it was expanding its Connecticut operation, is one of them. SolarCity’s announcement […]
Posted inEnergy & Environment, Money
Big SolarCity CT announcement clouded by I.P.O. turmoil
The timing could have been better — a lot better — for SolarCity‘s big Connecticut expansion announcement. A star-studded cast that included Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Commissioner Dan Esty and SolarCity CEO Lyndon Rive announced a move to larger quarters in New Britain and the addition of 15 jobs […]
Posted inNews
DEEP facing both federal and state budget cuts
Facing potentially dramatic budget cuts on two fronts, Connecticut’s commissioner of the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection says the agency will need to remake its business model to continue to do its job. In a particularly sobering presentation to an annual gathering of environmental advocates, Daniel Esty made it clear that the pain from […]
Posted inNews
Overhaul is near for Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative
For all the expectations around Tuesday’s meeting of the nine member states of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative — the nation’s first power plant emissions trading and reduction program — the result was a bit anti-climactic. It will still be another month or so before any anticipated changes to the initiative are known. Several adjustments, discussed […]
Posted inNews
Sandy brings a less stormy financial future for oyster farmers
A month after storm Sandy tore across Long Island Sound, Connecticut’s oyster farmers are finally beginning to get a feel for their futures. While they’re still assessing damage, it appears there was less than from Tropical Storm Irene, though problems vary with location, farming technique and other factors. But perhaps the best news is that oyster […]
