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 […]
Energy & Environment
As climate change continues to impact Connecticut, keep up with the latest news on environmental legislation, energy, coastal resilience, pollution, and land use.
Posted inEnergy & Environment, Money
A New Year’s gift of higher electric bills?
If the folks who run New England’s electricity transmission grid get their way there’s a good chance you’ll be looking at higher electric bills come New Year’s. But it won’t be without a fight. Three Connecticut state agencies have joined three other New England states to protest a proposed 10 percent budget increase by ISO-New […]
Posted inEnergy & Environment, Health
CT snares only one USDA Farm to School grant
Given Connecticut’s bear-hug embrace of the local food movement, you might have expected the state to have been all over the U.S. Department of Agriculture‘s new Farm to School grant program. And you would have especially expected that because: 1. There was some serious money involved, and 2. Much of the grant focus was on […]
Posted inEnergy & Environment, Money
Energy efficiency deals available for Sandy victims
A bit of a silver lining in the post-Sandy cloud. Connecticut residents and businesses that lost major appliances due to the storm will be eligible for financial incentives to upgrade them to more energy efficient models. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy announced today that the state will provide $3 million to fund the upgrades for appliances […]
Posted inEnergy & Environment, Money, Politics
Election adds to shake-up on Energy and Technology Committee
The touch of shake-up the election gave to the General Assembly is likely to have an outsized effect on the Energy and Technology Committee. But it’s not clear yet — and likely won’t be until next year — just what that effect will be. Energy co-chairwoman Rep. Vickie Nardello, D-Prospect, was a surprise loser in her […]
Posted inEnergy & Environment, Politics
Would Mr. Esty head (back) to Washington?
With Elizabeth Esty now headed to Washington as the state’s newest member of Congress, it’s somewhat logical to wonder whether her husband Dan — the commissioner of the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection — might also head there where here served for a number of years in the Environmental Protection Agency. Apparently this occurred […]
Posted inEnergy & Environment
HUD implements forclosure moratorium for Sandy victims
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan said Monday he has imposed a 90-day moratorium on foreclosures of Connecticut properties and others in Hurricane Sandy-hit areas that were bought with Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loans. “People have already suffered one disaster, they don’t need two,” he said. The mortgage moratorium was declared […]
Posted inEnergy & Environment
FEMA: Many Sandy victims may lack flood insurance
Federal Emergency Management Agency administrator Craig Fugate on Friday said many of Hurricane Sandy’s victims do not have flood insurance. That means there’s no coverage for water damage to their homes because homeowners’ policies exclude flood damage. “A lot of people who flooded will not have insurance whatsoever,” Fugate said. Fugate also said one reason […]
Posted inEnergy & Environment, Money
United Illuminating officials: You’re asking for power. We’re asking for civility.
With 98,906 United Illuminating customers still without power a few days after Hurricane Sandy hit Connecticut, a top official is asking for some civility from residents still in the dark. “Don’t hassle our people in the field,” James Torgerson of UI said in a plea to frustrated residents who have been throwing things and yelling […]
Posted inEnergy & Environment, Money
Seawalls: fix first, file later
As it did after Tropical Storm Irene, the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection is temporarily streamlining the repair and rebuilding of certain seawalls, bulkheads and revetments damaged or destroyed by Storm Sandy. For previously permitted structures that were built before 1995 or are protecting a home or infrastructure that was built before 1995, owners […]
Posted inEnergy & Environment, Money
Rush to meet Plum Island comment deadline
Environmental groups in Connecticut and New York are scrambling to meet a Friday deadline to submit comments on a draft environmental impact statement for the sale of Plum Island by the federal government. Their collective consensus — with some nuanced differences — is that most, if not all, of the island, located in the New […]
Posted inEnergy & Environment
Mystery spill in Stamford leaves officials scratching their heads
Five days after a spill estimated at thousands of gallons of a black, oily substance was seen in the water at Stamford Harbor, officials are still scratching their heads at what it could be and where it may have come from. “The material doesn’t seem to be anything that we can easily trace to a […]
Posted inEnergy & Environment, Money
Stamford officials, commuters will have some input in state overhaul of parking
Two weeks ago, Gov. Dannel Malloy and Transportation Commissioner Jim Redeker promised to create an “advisory panel” to help the state decide which developer should receive $35 million in public money to replace a parking garage at the Stamford train station. Thursday, they announced the five members of the panel, and some names are sure […]
Posted inEnergy & Environment
Malloy, Esty pitch energy policy on WNPR
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and Dan Esty, his commissioner of energy and environmental protection, spent an hour on WNPR’s “Where We Live” today explaining and defending the Malloy administration’s push to convert homes from oil to gas heat. The show repeats tonight at 7, and audio of the show is available online. As The Mirror […]
Posted inEnergy & Environment, Money
More bad air days in Connecticut
All that complaining you did about the hot, smoggy summer — turns out you had every reason to whine. Preliminary data from the Environmental Protection Agency shows that from April to September, Connecticut had the worst air quality in New England with the number of bad air days nearly doubling since last year. For the […]