PSEG, residents, environmenalists, others face off over Bridgeport power plant

Even though less than 2 percent of Connecticut’s power came from coal burning sources last year, the owners of the PSEG Bridgeport Harbor Station seem determined to get their operating permit renewed.

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Opponents of the 9.4-mile New Britain-to-Hartford busway rallied at the Legislative Office Building Wednesday morning where they were booed by dozens of construction workers who support the nearly $570 million project, CT News Junkie reports.

Republican lawmakers such as Rep. Whit Betts of Bristol and Sen. Joseph Markley of Southington continued to argue against the busway. Click on this environmental headline for more on this story from WTNH and The Connecticut Post.

This Earth Day weekend Save the Sound U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Commissioner Daniel Esty, Senate Minority Leader Pro-Tempore Len Fasano (R-North Haven), state Rep. Mary Mushinsky (D-Wallingford), and other local activists joined together to observe Earth Day at a celebration event and dedication of Save the Sound’s Wallace Dam fishway project in Wallingford.

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A new report by Environment Connecticut Research & Policy Center released today in front of the solar array atop Middletown-based Center Point Office Park, highlights the role that clean energy and environmental policies have played in moving states toward meeting targets for reducing global warming emissions, while challenging claims that actions that reduce emissions undermine economic growth.

“Green infrastructure techniques like rain gardens, permeable pavement and rain barrels are common sense ways to naturally filter stormwater and reduce the amount of harmful sewage discharged into the Long Island Sound, and do so less expensively than traditional techniques,” said New Haven Mayor John DeStefano.

The next time there is a funding battle or a natural disaster involving Long Island Sound, legislators won’t have to scramble quite so much to unify, mobilize and speak with one organized voice, The New Haven Register reports.

“Seals, lobsters, and striped bass do not abide by political boundaries, so protecting the Sound’s waters must be a bipartisan, bi-state effort,” said Leah Schmalz, director of legislative and legal affairs for Save the Sound.

2012 has been proclaimed the Year of the Lizard by Partners in Amphibian and Reptile Conservation (PARC) to raise awareness for lizard conservation. The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP), a member of PARC since 1999, is participating in this outreach effort by shining a spotlight on Connecticut’s only native lizard, the five-lined skink. Also found in Vermont and historically in Massachusetts, the five-lined skink is at its northeastern range limit in southwestern New England.

The Northeast Aquatic Connectivity Project has resulted in a set of valuable outcomes that will assist resource agencies in the Northeastern U.S. to strategically reconnect fragmented aquatic habitats by targeting removal or bypass of key barriers to fish passage.

The project has worked to make future connectivity restoration projects more efficient by providing the regional information to allow strategic selection of projects most likely to produce ecological benefits. Click on this environmental headline for more on this story.

There are 7 billion people to feed on the planet today and another 2 billion are expected to join by 2050. Statistics say that each of us drinks from 2 to 4 litres of water every day, however most of the water we ‘drink’ is embedded in the food we eat: producing 1 kilo of beef for example consumes 15,000 litres of water while 1 kilo of wheat ’drinks up’ 1,500 litres.

When a billion people in the world already live in chronic hunger and water resources are under pressure we cannot pretend the problem is ‘elsewhere’.

Connecticut Fund for the Environment, an environmental non-profit that works to preserve air, land, and water quality in the state, is pleased with the agreement reached for the NU-NSTAR merger.

Don Strait, executive director of CFE said “the agreement appears to address our concerns regarding the acres of open space currently owned by NU by transferring some of the most precious parcels into a land trust. It also extends the Memorandum of Understanding for another 10 years, protecting the 8,500 acres of open space from sale for development.” Click on this environmental headline for more on this story.

“In sending a letter to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission requesting to vacate their certificates, Broadwater has signaled that their proposed floating gas plant is finally dead,” said Leah Schmalz, director of legal and legislative affairs for Save the Sound.

After years of opposition, protests, petitions, legal wrangling, and partnering with federal and state officials on both sides of Long Island Sound, “the health and safety of our Sound will not be compromised by the proposed industrial complex.” Click on this environmental headline for more on this story from Save the Sound.

Kelp farming and harvesting is now a reality in Long Island Sound, as a result of a Connecticut Sea Grant research project led by Dr. Charles Yarish. Yarish is a Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Connecticut in Stamford.

The first crop of farmed kelp in Long Island Sound was harvested on February 14, 2012.

In a report released Tuesday, the Union of Concerned Scientists ranked an incident at Millstone last year as one of two of the “most threatening” safety lapses at U.S. nuclear power plants in 2011.

In an e-mail message, NRC spokesman Neil Sheehan took issue with the UCS’s characterization of the Millstone 2 event as a “near miss.”

On Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2012, environmental and progressive groups flooded the Senate with more than 800,000 messages opposing the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline. The surge in online activism came as Senate Republicans tried to saddle the transportation bill with an amendment that would reverse President Obama’s decision to block the controversial project.

The petition drive was organized by a group of over 30 organizations and businesses with the goal of sending the Senate half a million messages in under 24 hours.

The drinking water for more than 11.3 million people could be at risk of radioactive contamination from a leak or accident at the Indian Point Nuclear Facility, says a new study released today by Environment New York.

The report also shows that Indian Point Nuclear Plant threatens drinking water supplies for more than twice as many people compared to any other nuclear facility in the nation. New York City Is the largest city in the country with water supplies at risk of a nuclear accident.

EHHI has released a new report calling for tougher standards to regulate cellular technologies—especially for children and pregnant women.

This report is the first part of a project researching the health effects of cell phone use. John Wargo, Ph.D., professor of Environmental Risk and Policy at Yale and lead author of the report, said, “The scientific evidence is sufficiently robust showing that cellular devices pose significant health risks to children and pregnant women….” Click on this environmental headline for more of this story.

Switzerland leads the world in managing pollution and natural resources, according to the 2012 Environmental Performance Index, which is produced by researchers at Yale and Columbia universities, in collaboration with the World Economic Forum, ranks 132 countries based on 22 indicators in 10 major policy categories, including air and water pollution, climate change, biodiversity and forest management. The United States places 49th. Click on this environmental headline for more on this story.

According to NOAA scientists, 2011 was a record-breaking year for climate extremes, as much of the United States faced historic levels of heat, precipitation, flooding and severe weather, while La Niña events at both ends of the year impacted weather patterns at home and around the world.

NOAA’s annual analysis of U.S. and global conditions, conducted by scientists at NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center, reports that the average temperature for the contiguous U.S. was 53.8 degrees F, 1.0 degree F above the 20th century average, making it the 23rd warmest year on record.

350 Connecticut, a statewide grassroots climate action organization, has announced that it has formed a sub-group to oppose the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline.

The new Connecticut Tar Sands Working Group intends to get the members of Connecticut’s congressional delegation, as well as Gov. Dannel Malloy, to put pressure on President Obama to reject the project.

“We are ready to work tirelessly to do our part to stop this catastrophe,” said Westbrook resident Colin Bennett, one of the leaders of the Connecticut Tar Sands Working Group.

To promote wetland conservation, the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) is initiating a contest where artists can enter an original piece of artwork that depicts a waterfowl species (duck, goose, or brant) that occurs in Connecticut.

The winning entry will be featured on the 2013 Connecticut Migratory Bird Conservation Stamp. Note: This is not a postage stamp.

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