Legislation that would have helped residents benefit from solar electricity systems even if their homes couldn’t support a solar system is dead for this legislative session.
Energy and Environment
Posted inEnergy & Environment
Epic fight to save 1,000-acre Connecticut forest nears end
A 15-year legal and political odyssey neared an end Friday with the announcement of a complicated $8.1 million financing plan to purchase and manage “The Preserve,” a 1,000-acre swath of Old Saybrook, Essex and Westbrook that is the last, large, unprotected coastal forest between Boston and New York.
Posted inEnergy & Environment
Wind siting regulations approved, but may be too late
Siting regulations for wind turbines in Connecticut have finally been approved — but without federal incentives, how quickly wind will move ahead is still a question.
Posted inEnergy & Environment
Could the ‘Shared Solar’ movement work in shady Connecticut?
With 80 percent of Connecticut homes unsuited for solar power, the legislature is considering the concept of shared solar.
Posted inEnergy & Environment
New analysis pinpoints change on Connecticut’s Long Island shoreline
Data from Connecticut’s shoreline from as far back as 1880 shows for the first time how, where, how much and how fast the shoreline has changed — mostly receding — in the last 130 years.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Op-ed: One easy step to double solar access in CT
Connecticut is considering a visionary bill that will greatly expand access to solar energy throughout the state.
Posted inEnergy & Environment
CT environmental community watches as Klee takes helm of DEEP
“How is he going to operate in the political arena?” the advocate asked rhetorically about Robert Klee, new commissioner of the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. “It’s THE question.”
Posted inEnergy & Environment
Connecticut panel does about-face on hazard mitigation funds
Connecticut shoreline homeowners who were victims of storm Sandy and had applied for federal funding to elevate their homes or have them purchased by the government will now have a shot at getting some money.
Posted inEnergy & Environment
No fracking in Connecticut, but what about its waste?
Despite having no gas or oil deposits, Connecticut has the potential to set the national standard in dealing with fracking waste. But doing so may put the state on a collision course with federal law, ultimately also making Connecticut the national legal test case.
Posted inEnergy & Environment
Hazard mitigation grant do-over
After a massive outcry from shoreline communities, the state emergency management office is being ordered to reconsider its decision to deny certain federal funds for all home elevations and buyouts related to storm Sandy.
Posted inEnergy & Environment
Cutting Connecticut’s trees sparks disagreement
Updated: 5:00 p.m. The management of Connecticut’s trees – what, where and how much to cut – has become contentious, pitting those who are most concerned about keeping the lights on against those who believe we are verging on literal overkill in taking down trees.
Posted inEnergy & Environment, Politics
DEEP’s new boss has a Ph.D. in trash
Robert Klee, 39, is the mild-mannered protégé of the hard-charging mentor he will succeed, Daniel C. Esty. He is set to take over one of state government’s highest-profile agencies and brings to the commissioner’s office a varied background in environment law, science and public policy. Klee is a man who can wax rhapsodic about “transformative efforts on waste.”
Posted inEnergy & Environment, Politics
Top aide to succeed Esty at DEEP
Robert Klee, a Yale-educated environmental lawyer and policy expert now serving as chief of staff to Commissioner Daniel C. Esty, will succeed Esty as the leader of the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, sources say.
Posted inEnergy & Environment
CT climate change center in the works
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy Friday will unveil plans for a new Institute for Community Resilience and Climate Adaptation as an all-purpose resource for municipalities, individuals and other private and public groups in need of assistance to plan for climate change.
Posted inEnergy & Environment
As Esty exits, some worry, some hope
In fact many are concerned about his departure, worrying that no successor will have the breadth of expertise Esty had across energy and environmental subjects, and some fear a backsliding, especially in regional energy initiatives.