The CT Mirror (https://ctmirror.org/tag/department-of-energy-and-environmental-protection/)
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. Continue Reading →
Connecticut, once a national leader in clean and renewable energy and energy efficiency, has slipped behind many other states, including its neighbors. Most of the finger-pointing is at the state’s budget problems and questionable choices by the legislature. But the state may have started to lose its energy edge before then. The question is, can it get it back? Continue Reading →
After blocking similar bills over two years, the House of Representatives voted 75 to 66 for final passage Thursday of a measure variously derided as a windfall for a major energy company and praised as a responsible first step toward stabilizing the finances of Connecticut’s last nuclear plant. Continue Reading →
One of the non-fiscal elements of the tentative budget deal calls for the House Democratic leadership to allow a vote on a bill designed to improve the profitability of Connecticut’s last nuclear power plant, Millstone, the subject of an epic lobbying campaign by its owner, Dominion Energy. Continue Reading →
Provisions in the Connecticut Comprehensive Energy Strategy that would drastically limit the number of solar systems people and businesses can put on their roofs and could change the payment structure for excess electricity those systems generate have riled the state’s solar industry and those who support it. Continue Reading →
Call it a sign of desperation or a mark of creativity. One of the unconventional revenue-raising schemes considered by legislators in pursuit of an overdue budget would have Connecticut extract millions of dollars from Dominion Energy in return for legislation boosting the profitability of electricity generated by the company’s Millstone nuclear power plant. Continue Reading →
WASHINGTON – Gov. Dannel Malloy on Friday lauded the U.S. Environmental Agency’s reversal of its decision to delay a new rule that would lower the level of ozone emissions permitted from fossil-fuel burning, such as the exhaust from auto tailpipes and power plant smokestacks. Malloy had argued a stricter ozone rule is needed because Connecticut is polluted by emissions from other states, putting its businesses at a disadvantage and threatening the health of state residents. Continue Reading →
Connecticut published a draft of its overdue comprehensive energy strategy Wednesday at a tumultuous time as the Trump administration steps away from international climate accords and the state faces the threatened loss of its biggest source of carbon-free power, the Millstone Power Station.
Continue Reading →
With TV ads and ferocious lobbying on both sides of the issue, it’s unclear whether any legislation to help out the Millstone Nuclear Power Station will survive this legislative session. A delay in the release of an updated state energy strategy isn’t helping matters. Continue Reading →
After years of delays, shared solar may finally be close to its first test in Connecticut. But along with some cheers from its supporters, there’s still an awful lot of complaining over how it’s being handled. Continue Reading →
Lobbyists crowded into a committee room at the General Assembly to watch the inevitable advance Tuesday of a bill that sponsors say would simultaneously lower electric rates and stabilize profits generated by the Millstone Nuclear Power Station. Opponents say the bill would cost ratepayers and produce a windfall for the plant’s owner, Dominion Resources of Virginia. Continue Reading →
The Trump administration called massive cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency an attempt to ease the burden of unnecessary federal regulations. Connecticut’s environmental commissioner called it an assault on public health and the environment. Continue Reading →
At least for the near term, the major EPA grants to the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection will keep flowing despite a freeze and review of contracts and grants by the Trump administration. Continue Reading →
For more than two decades, most of the new multi-use trails built in the state were almost entirely the work of local volunteers. In the past five years, however, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and his transportation commissioner, James Redeker, have turned that narrative on its head. The state is now including non-motorized trails in its planning efforts and making major investments in them. Continue Reading →
The three-year update to Connecticut’s Comprehensive Energy Strategy, underway now, faces dramatically changed energy, environmental and political landscapes that raise questions about whether the first strategy, with its focus on natural gas, may have partially wasted the last three years. Continue Reading →