All but unnoticed as coronavirus tears through – the New England power grid is without 75% of its nuclear power.
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 inEconomic Development, Health, Money
Gig economy, artists welcome unemployment payments, but face an unknowable future
The artistic gig economy gets a short-term lifeline of unemployment benefits, but no guarantee of a future.
Posted inEnergy & Environment
Connecticut farms are essential services, but are mostly on their own
Connecticut farms that provide food are essential services, but staying open will still take ingenuity.
Posted inEnergy & Environment
Indoor closings at Connecticut parks due to COVID-19
DEEP closes more than a dozen recreational facilities to the public due to COVIC-19, with an eye towards how to handle its parks and forests this summer.
Posted inEnergy & Environment
Is Connecticut’s outdated recycling system in line for an overhaul?
Connecticut’s systems, regulations and policies supporting recycling are decades old, and the materials coming from recyclers now have limited value as commodities. It is at a loss, both economically and environmentally, as well as far behind its neighbors in making its recycling systems more responsive to the times.
Posted inEnergy & Environment
Power plant emissions down 47% under the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative
The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative is often described as a cap-and-trade program. It’s not. This first-in-the-nation regional effort to lower carbon emissions from power plants is actually a cap-and-invest program.
Posted inEnergy & Environment
MIRA plant a symbol of state’s struggle to move into 21st century
Waste systems in Connecticut are reaching a tipping point, raising the question of whether it’s time to reinvent how we get rid of our trash.
Posted inEnergy & Environment
Best of 2019: Future of the gas tax? Running on empty.
The gas tax is at the core of the tolls debate. Climate change is at the core of the gas tax. But switching to electric vehicles will mean less gas tax revenue.
Posted inEconomic Development, Energy & Environment
Best of 2019: CT offshore wind may face some rough seas
Connecticut could be facing a couple of obstacles as it pursues offshore wind projects: one from the feds; another self-inflicted.
Posted inEnergy & Environment
New offshore wind award is largest renewable project ever for CT
With federal tax credits set to expire at the end of the year, the state has chosen Vineyard Wind to develop an 804-megawatt offshore wind project.
Posted inEnergy & Environment
Climate change v. Killingly gas power plant. And the winner is…
The furor over a natural gas power plant in Killingly has expanded into a statewide cause célèbre over climate change. And the governor is right in the middle of it.
Posted inEnergy & Environment
CT wins a round against out-of-state smog, but it’s unclear for how long
A federal ruling scored a victory – though likely a temporary one – for Connecticut in its ongoing fight with the Environmental Protection Agency over the pollution from other states that winds up in the Northeast.
Posted inEnergy & Environment
CT’s small solutions to climate change: saving the Hepburn dune with a living shoreline
Katherine Hepburn’s dune has taken a severe beating, but a living shoreline would protect it and the surrounding area.
Posted inEnergy & Environment
CT’s small solutions to climate change: Making Bridgeport more resilient
After the south end of Bridgeport was walloped by Irene and Sandy, city officials decided to do something about it.
Posted inEnergy & Environment
CT’s small solutions to climate change: South Windsor goes solar
South Windsor expects to get more than 80% of its municipal electricity from solar, signifying a massive push by the town for energy efficiency.
