9 Town Transit, the shoreline’s public transit agency, recently celebrated the addition of two hybrid electric mini-buses to their fleet, reports Joseph Comerford, Executive Director, Estuary Transit District. Each bus has both gasoline engine and an electric motor. When idling and at speeds up to 15 MPH, the buses operate totally on electric power. The result is a quieter running vehicle and a boost in gas mileage by about 20%.

Transportation officials in Connecticut and other states have long lamented Congress’s inability to pass a new, long-term transportation plan that details federal spending levels and outlines national priorities. Critics say the lack of such a roadmap hampers state planning and creates uncertainty about resources.

The restoration of one of Long Island Sound’s most significant fish and wildlife habitats has been completed. Manursing Lake, next to the county’s Edith G. Read Natural Park and Wildlife Sanctuary in Rye, was restored in two phases to improve drainage.

Residents of Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida live in states with the most toxic air pollution from coal- and oil-fired power plants, according to an analysis by the Natural Resources Defense Council. The study used publicly-available data in the Environmental Protection Agency’s Toxics Release Inventory (TRI). The analysis, entitled “Toxic Power: How Power Plants Contaminate Our Air and States” was jointly released today by NRDC and Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR).

The U.S. Department of Energy said Wednesday that it has awarded two grants to the University of Michigan to underwrite $1.2 million in research on the use of coal-based fuels in clean-burning advanced turbines. Michigan is one of nine universities getting funds under the University Turbine Systems Research Program, the Energy Department said. In all,
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With a new grant to revolutionize the environmental justice curriculum, Connecticut College faculty will help students better understand their place in the world and the responsibility they bear to their neighbors.

But even though many seemingly more important state services would be cut, the ferries should remain. They’ve already lost some hours of service in recent years, and that’s enough. Read more here: Connecticut’s Historic Ferries Should Be Preserved: For Charm, For Heritage – Courant.com. Blog this! Bookmark on Delicious Digg this post Recommend on Facebook
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The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) has forecast unhealthy air quality due to elevated concentrations of ground-level ozone pollution throughout all of Connecticut for Thursday, July 21, 2011 and Friday July 22, 2011.

As part of its effort to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, the federal government a few years ago assigned a “social cost” to carbon, estimating the economic damage done by 1 ton of carbon dioxide emissions at $21. Australia came up with a similar figure last year. But new research suggests the real cost may be
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Recent, yet-to-be-released testing by such a group in Fairfield County and nearby New York areas has found low levels of two types of radioactive strontium in the milk of goats, cows and humans. The results, expected to be released within weeks, were termed “striking” by one expert who reviewed the data provided to Hearst Connecticut Media Group.

Studies by another activist group have found strontium in the baby teeth of Fairfield County children.

The onset of anthropogenic climate change means Kenya is seeing rising temperatures and more frequent drought. Yet, overall it is actually receiving greater amounts of precipitation. The problem is, the rain now arrives erratically, in sudden violent bursts, all at once rather than gradually over a season. This means eroding floods, followed by drought. The clockwork rains, upon which Kenyan agriculture and society depends, are increasingly out of sync. Alternet prints an excerpt from Christian Parenti’s new book: Tropic of Chaos: Climate Change and the New Geography of Violence.

Esty was joined by many conservation organization officials at People’s State Forest to meet fisherman and to discuss the environmental, energy and economical impacts of the Farmington River — part of a $1.3 billion industry for the state of Connecticut.

BP reported yet another pipeline leak at its Alaskan oilfields, frustrating the oil giant’s attempts to rebuild its reputation after the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. BP has said that a pipeline at its 30,000 barrel per day Lisburne field, which is currently closed for maintenance, ruptured during testing and spilled a mixture of methanol
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Governor Malloy has just signed into law the following 3 bills that are top CFPA priorities in 2011. Click on this environmental headline for more information and a fuller description of why these bills are so important to protecting Connecticut’s forests and outdoor recreation areas.

The Connecticut Office of the Attorney General and the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) Friday announced a settlement with Covanta Projects of Wallingford, L.P, over air emissions violations at Unit 2 of its trash-to-energy plant. Under terms of the settlement filed today in Hartford Superior Court, the company will be assessed $400,000 in
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The war over America’s coastal-energy future has officially begun, and the result could determine whether we see wind turbines or catastrophic oil spills along our coastlines in coming years, Grist reports.

Julia Roberts, who filed the proposal which was being developed by the Conservation Commission, said the regulation would not apply to the borough, which has its own Planning and Zoning Commission and regulations.

Connecticut’s program for keeping coastal and inland waters clean and safe for recreation by safely disposing of millions of gallons of boaters’ sewage annually is so successful it is looked at by other states wanting to emulate it.

A group of climate activists led a protest at the gates of the Bridgeport Harbor Power Station Wednesday. The protesters said they were calling for a change from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources.

The group opposed to the construction of six wind turbines in Colebrook that were approved by the Connecticut Siting Council last month has appealed the council’s decision.