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.
Energy and Environment
Posted inEnergy & Environment
Supreme Court upholds Connecticut’s energy strategy
The state Supreme Court on Thursday rejected a legal challenge by oil dealers to a comprehensive energy strategy Connecticut adopted in 2013 to encourage a greater reliance on natural gas by residential and commercial customers.
Posted inMoney, Politics
New Year’s brings little to celebrate for CT fuel cell industry
WASHINGTON — Congress dealt a key – and growing – Connecticut industry a blow by failing to extend a fuel cell tax break at the end of the year – an omission that could cost the state jobs.
Posted inEnergy & Environment
CT works on a new energy strategy as old one misses the mark
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.
Posted inEnergy & Environment, Politics
Q&A: EPA’s McCarthy hopes Trump won’t unravel her work
WASHINGTON — On Gina McCarthy’s watch, the Environmental Protection Agency toughened the clean water and clean air regulations and finalized regulations for the Clean Power Plan, which aims to reduce emissions from power plants to combat climate change. She recently gave The Connecticut Mirror a wide ranging interview and spoke, in her distinct Boston accent, of her hopes that her legacy will survive,
Posted inCities & Towns
Bottling plant a wake-up call on state water
For decades, Connecticut residents have taken water for granted. But approval of a water bottling plant in Bloomfield, the coming of the state’s worst drought since the 1960s, and several other water controversies in recent years have put the spotlight on both the state’s lack of an overall water plan and questions about the transparency and accountability of the Metropolitan District Commission, the Hartford region’s big water and sewer agency.
Posted inEnergy & Environment, Politics
Katie Dykes, state’s energy policy strategist, to join PURA
Katie Dykes, a key voice on energy policy as a deputy commissioner at the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, was nominated Thursday by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy to serve as a commissioner of the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority.
Posted inEnergy & Environment
Auditors: State employed spills-response supervisor who couldn’t do the job
State environmental protection officials employed for 15 months a hazardous spills-response supervisor who was “incapable of performing the duties” — wasting resources and potentially threatening public safety — State Auditors John C. Geragosian and Robert M. Ward reported Wednesday.
Posted inEnergy & Environment
Above the waves, Connecticut fishermen struggle to hang on
Shifting fish species have Connecticut fishermen in an emotional dispute over how the U.S. fishing system operates. They’re calling, if not downright begging, for immediate changes to fish allocations to save the state’s fishing industry from what many believe is its inevitable ruin. But others in the scientific and environmental communities are saying – maybe not so fast.
Posted inEnergy & Environment
Beneath the waves, climate change puts marine life on the move
Climate change-induced shifts of marine species in the Northeast are forcing changes in fishing patterns for Connecticut fishermen, threatening to upend fishing management systems and generating political controversy and finger-pointing as policies struggle to keep up with the pace of fish movement, and the Connecticut fishing community struggles to hang on.
Posted inNews
Last hope for a shoreline landmark
Seaside in Waterford is one of the last great buildings designed by renowned architect Cass Gilbert, famous for the Woolworth Building, the U.S. Supreme Court and New Haven’s Union Station. Built by the sea as a tuberculosis sanitarium and later used as a facility for the intellectually disabled, the grand building is a deteriorating derelict after years of state indecision. Now the state is down to its last chance to save it.
Posted inMoney
Temporary reprieve for Old State House amid squabbling
Updated at 6 p.m.
It looks like the Old State House won’t be stripped of its artifacts after all, but the Hartford landmark remains closed to the public while legislators and Gov. Dannel P. Malloy reconsider a budget provision that slashed funding and gave the building to a reluctant new landlord, the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. Speaker J. Brendan Sharkey says the administration’s opposition seems “petulant.”
Posted inEnergy & Environment, Money
Old State House will lose historical memorabilia — for now
Connecticut’s Old State House in Hartford, recently closed to the public because of budget cuts, will soon lose the paintings, antiques and other historic memorabilia it has housed for years — for the same reason.
Posted inEnergy & Environment, Money, Politics
Lawmakers challenge DEEP to make do with much less
Legislators pressed state environmental officials Monday to partner with municipalities, civic groups and corporate sponsors to preserve recreation, conservation and protection programs. But the officials responded that they already do that and closures are likely to worsen before things get better.
Posted inEnergy & Environment, Money
Legislators fear budget cuts taking their toll on CT’s parks
The Senate chairwoman of the legislature’s Sportsmen’s Caucus conceded Wednesday she’s uncertain how much can be done to fix the situation, given state government’s ongoing fiscal woes.