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Hopes are alive for a high-speed commuter rail service for the New Haven and Springfield corridor, and all of the economic potential officials say it offers the state.
The State Bond Commission has approved $26 million for a project which, House Speaker Christopher G. Donovan, D-Meriden, said is important for the state and the region because it will create jobs and encourage economic development.
via State Approves $26 Million for High-Speed Rail | NBC Connecticut.
More state coverage below:::
Continue reading State Approves $26 Million for High-Speed Rail | NBC Connecticut
AGENDA2010 FOR THE STATE • Last in a Hartford Courant series
We would very much like to see a strong statewide plan for open space acquisition, one that prioritizes environmentally sensitive areas such as wetlands and ridge lines and focuses on parcels that are contiguous with existing open space.
via State Agenda, Part 6: A Chance To Gain Land – Courant.com.
After the federal bailouts were faulted for enriching Wall Street and for proving rather anemic in creating jobs, the president and congressional Democrats sent a message in choosing a name for the jobs bill they introduced this month. “It is with great enthusiasm that we present our 'Jobs for Main Street' legislation,” Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced last week just before the bill passed.
The new bill does reserve $8.4 billion for transit and $800 million for Amtrak. But just when U.S. real estate markets are turning to Main Street and traditional neighborhood design, Congress throws $27.5 billion at the infrastructure — road widening — that supports sprawl.
via Smarter Money Would Be On Main Street — Courant.com.
The Greenwich Representative Town Meeting voted to extend an ordinance allowing the town to fine landscape contractors who violate local wetlands regulations, removing a sunset clause from the enabling legislation.
via RTM approves senior tax deferral option, extends wetlands fines – Greenwich Time.
Senators John Kerry,Democrat of Massachusetts, right, Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, center, and Joseph I. Lieberman, Independent of Connecticut, sent President Obama a letter on Thursday outlining their plan on climate change. The senators believe they can win the 60 votes needed to push the broadly-worded blueprint of a climate change and energy bill through next year.
via Senators Offer New Climate Proposals – Green Inc. Blog – NYTimes.com.
Barbara Sarmento of Farmington wasn’t able to tell which of the four cups contained the tap water from West Hartford.
“I try to drink bottled water, but now that I see how little difference there is I may be switching to tap,” Sarmento said Wednesday.
Making the switch to tap water is exactly what Corporate Accountability International wants the state of Connecticut to do.
State Rep,. Richard Roy, D-Milford, said he’s introduced bills to ban bottled water, but they haven’t gone very far.
via CT News Junkie | Bottled Vs. Tap.
California has the world’s eighth largest economy and a well-earned reputation as a global trendsetter on environmental policy.
It should come as no surprise that Californians are out of the gate on the most urgent environmental challenge of our generation: building a clean energy future that protects the world from catastrophic global warming.
Given that the countdown to Copenhagen is underway and the White House and Congress are weighing proposals and priorities, California’s leadership-by-example means more than ever.
via Climate 411 » California Pushes Ahead with a Carbon Cap, Ahead of Schedule – Blogs & Podcasts – Environmental Defense Fund.
Grades Reflect Voter Concern about Protecting the Environment
Connecticut lawmakers’ environmental scores inched up this year, reflecting the high priority that voters across the state place on protecting the environment.
That finding comes from the just-released Connecticut League of Conservation Voters’ 2009 Environmental Scorecard (pdf), which grades lawmakers on their votes on 19 different bills related to the environment. Some of the bills scored this year include bills on rivers and wetlands, solar power, open space, bottle recycling, and toxic chemicals, among others.
“We publish an Annual Environmental Scorecard to let Connecticut voters who care about the environment know if their legislators are voting the right way,” said Lori Brown, CTLCV’s Executive Director.
Continue reading State Lawmakers’ Environmental Scores Inch Up for 2009 | CTLCV Scorecard
Thursday, Sens. Chris Dodd (D-CT) and Joe Lieberman (ID-CT) joined Representatives Chris Murphy (CT-5) and John Larson (CT-1) to announce that Congress approved and President Obama is expected to sign into law $1.415 million in funding to protect the Tulmeadow Farm in Simsbury.
via Connecticut Delegation Members Secure Funding to Protect Open Space in Simsbury.
Total Membership in Special Environmental Preservation Effort Now 17
Gov. M. Jodi Rell today announced that two more marinas – Spicer’s Marina in Noank and Reynolds Garage and Marine Inc. in Lyme – are the latest recreational boating facilities in the state to be certified “Connecticut Clean Marinas.”
The certification acknowledges efforts to go beyond regulatory compliance and participate in voluntary measures to keep Connecticut waters clean. The two new designations bring the total number of “Connecticut Clean Marinas” to 17.
via ConnecticutPlus.com News – Two more facilities joining ‘Connecticut Clean Marinas’ program.
Sometimes it seems as though the state of Connecticut can’t raise revenue if it’s not taken out of the wallets of state residents. The bottle bill that went into effect Oct. 1 is yet another glaring example.
via EDITORIAL: A de facto tax is a tax nonetheless- The Register Citizen Opinion – Northwest Connecticut’s Daily Newspaper.
The European Commission this week introduced an open-access online tool to monitor the development of about a dozen low-carbon technologies in the trade bloc.
The commission said its Strategic Energy Technology Plan Information System, offers ways for citizens, researchers, investors and policy makers to map funding for projects in areas including hydropower, wind, photovoltaics, concentrating solar power, wave, geothermal, bioenergy, carbon capture and storage, smart grids, nuclear fission and fusion, hydrogen and fuel cells. The Mission of SETIS is to support decision making for the European Energy Technology Policy.
The purpose is “to efficiently collect, harmonize, validate, analyze and disseminate information on the priority energy technologies identified by the SET Plan, across the EU. The goal is to provide undisputed and transparent data and methodologies to support the strategic planning, monitoring and evaluation of the European Energy Technology policy.”
The European Commission this week introduced an open-access online tool to monitor the development of about a dozen low-carbon technologies in the trade bloc.
The commission said itsStrategic Energy Technology Plan Information System, offered ways for citizens, researchers, investors and policy makers to map funding for projects in areas including hydropower, wind, photovoltaics, concentrating solar power, wave, geothermal, bioenergy, carbon capture and storage, smart grids, nuclear fission and fusion, hydrogen and fuel cells.
 CT EarthNet is an interactive, web-based network designed to support and further empower the efforts of local groups across Connecticut to protect, improve and sustain the environmental quality of the state. The network tracks and indexes environmental issues against the resources, activities, tools and experience made available by a large number of diverse organizations active on local, state and regional scales. “The first decades of the 21st century are expected to decide the quality of life, locally and globally, far into the future. As 2010 approaches, understanding the pace of progress toward sustainable practices – whether efforts to manage environmental risks are catching up or falling behind – takes on new urgency.”
So begins the report summary for “Keeping Up Or Falling Behind: Outcomes of the 2009 CT Session for Environmental Issues” released, introduced, announced or launched yesterday by CT EarthNet and its team of environmental and technological gurus (or geniuses) including executive director Brendan Hanrahan, Nancy Hanrahan and David Smith. The report is available on the organization’s website: www.ctearthnet.org.
Continue reading New ‘report’ informs decision-making and advocacy for the betterment of the world | CT Environmental Headlines
Save the Sound Pushes for Increased Long Island Sound Funding at Congressional Hearing on Reauthorization of Long Island Sound Restoration Act
Washington D.C. – Save the Sound, a program of Connecticut Fund for the Environment, testified today at the House Subcommittee on Water Resources and the Environment hearing in preparation for the 2010 reauthorization of the Long Island Sound Restoration Act, which could authorize $40 million each year for the next five years for Long Island Sound clean water, restoration, and protection projects.
Continue reading Save the Sound Pushes for Increased Long Island Sound Funding
A measure included in one of the budget implementer bills passed by the state legislature will help stimulate economic development in New Haven and elsewhere while also preserving the environment, says Senate Majority Leader Martin M. Looney (D-New Haven). The legislation establishes a maximum $25 million tax credit for taxpayers who build buildings that meet specific energy and environmental standards.
via Senate Democrats Pass Green Building Tax Credit | Connecticut RealEstateRama.
NEW HAVEN — A tax credit to encourage green building construction has proven elusive over the past two years, but seems likely to survive this year’s state budget battle, which continues to play out three months after the fiscal year began.
via Green tax credit likely to survive in budget- The New Haven Register – Serving New Haven, Connecticut.
Now that the Senate has passed a bill with just $3 million for the health of Long Island Sound – a paltry amount, compared with the $15 million the House approved – it’s up to New York’s two senators to make sure that the Sound does a lot better in conference committee.
via EDITORIAL: Allocate funds to preserve LI Sound.
On Thursday, water and other non-carbonated beverages sold in bottles will join bottled soda and beer in requiring nickel deposits, redeemable when shoppers return the empties. The change was approved by the state legislature this year — unanimously in the House of Representatives. Expansion of the bottle bill could remove nearly 500 million containers a year from Connecticut landfills, according to Gov. Rell’s office.
via New Bottle Deposits, Higher Fees — Courant.com.
PROVIDENCE, RI – Obama Administration officials will hold their third regional Ocean Policy Task Force Public Meeting in Providence, Rhode Island on September 24, 2009. The Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force, led by White House Council on Environmental Quality Chair Nancy Sutley, consists of senior-level officials from Administration agencies, departments, and offices.
Continue reading Ocean Policy Task Force Meeting in Providence, RI, on Sept. 24, 2009
Montpelier, Vt. – New England’s governors have endorsed a plan calling for up to a third of the region’s electric power to come from wind by 2030, possibly with a big new network of high-voltage transmission lines to move the energy from source to market.
via TheDay.com – Region’s governors agree on energy vision.
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