Causes of CT’s wildfires vary, but the underlying conditions are the same: abnormally dry conditions that left a landscape primed to burn.
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
One of CT’s hottest issues of the summer cools on the campaign trail
Electric rate charges have become a political issue in CT — though not one that’s fresh in the minds of all voters leading up to Election Day.
Posted inEnergy & Environment
Is climate change a key issue for young voters? It’s complicated
Climate change is a matter of great concern, even pervasive anxiety, among young people. But the biggest factor in their voting? Not so much.
Posted inEnergy & Environment
In CT, flooding is on the rise. But the state has new tools to face it
Flooding has become Connecticut’s biggest climate problem, with storms growing more numerous and extreme. But some towns are taking action.
Posted inEnergy & Environment
CT opts out — for now — of offshore wind, raising concerns about motives
Gov. Ned Lamont says his caution with a new offshore wind commitment is its high cost, but some wonder if politics is at work, too.
Posted inEnergy & Environment
New Haven youth think global, go local to combat climate change
The young members of the New Haven Climate Movement know that change requires long hours, careful research — and the occasional protest.
Posted inEnergy & Environment
Climate change and the young generations: Their anxiety is real
As mental health professionals start to recognize that anxiety about climate change exists, many young people are using it as a jumping off point for activism.
Posted inJustice
CT officials: Supreme Court decision imperils environment, more
CT experts say the reversal of the ‘Chevron doctrine’ could cause widespread uncertainty in environmental and consumer safety regulation.
Posted inEnergy & Environment
CT smog problem gets no relief from Supreme Court
The U.S. Supreme Court halted, at least temporarily, a rule that would have helped moderate CT’s summertime smog and air quality problems.
Posted inEnergy & Environment
Major hurricane season predicted; insurers aren’t taking chances
Homeowners insurance rates are increasing quickly, and a “hurricane deductible,” once a rarity, is now close to ubiquitous in some towns.
Posted inEnergy & Environment
CT legislature ends session with no major climate change action – again
Though a few environment bills passed, major legislation concerning greenhouse gas emissions and resiliency against climate change failed.
Posted inEnergy & Environment
CT greenhouse gas emissions up as climate change bills languish
Transportation accounted for 42% of CT emissions, followed by heating in residential and commercial buildings at 21% and 13% respectively.
Posted inEnergy & Environment
Climate change legislation faces another uphill battle to approval
CT has four major climate bills awaiting legislative action this session. It’s anyone’s guess what will emerge to make it to a vote, or pass.
Posted inEnergy & Environment
Is CT’s electric grid ready to handle more power?
Some say we aren’t ready to require electric power, because the grid can’t yet handle it. Others say policy signals drive development.
Posted inEnergy & Environment
Plans for offshore wind power blow back into New England
The largest proposal received from a three-state solicitation came from Avangrid, which had pulled out of a CT project called Park City Wind.