State welcomes Afghan evacuees

More than 700 have settled as of mid-March, doubling initial target

On Sept. 15, Gov. Ned Lamont announced that the White House would ask Connecticut to accept “as many as 310 Afghan refugees for resettlement in Connecticut.”

The effort has gone better than expected.

As of March 18, more than 700 Afghans had come to live in the state, more than double the original target, thanks to a well-coordinated public-private partnership created by Lamont and strong public support.

“It’s unprecedented,” said Chris George, executive director of New Haven-based Integrated Refugee & Immigrant Services, one of the state’s two major nonprofit refugee resettlement agencies. “We’ve never resettled this many people, or gotten this much support — individual volunteers, groups, donations — in such a short period of time.”

The response “really is remarkable. Connecticut is a welcoming state for refugees and immigrants,” said Susan Schnitzer, president and CEO of the Connecticut Institute for Refugees and Immigrants, based in Bridgeport, the other major resettlement agency.

The resettlement has been achieved despite sharp reductions in federal funding over the last four years, a result of drastic cuts in refugee admissions by the Trump administration. While all agencies felt the cuts, they caused what had been the largest resettlement agency in Greater Hartford, Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Hartford, to halt its refugee resettlement program.

“We in Connecticut can be proud, though it’s a shame Catholic Charities isn’t still with us,” said Robert J. Fishman, executive director of the Connecticut Immigrant & Refugee Coalition, a policy and advocacy group.

Now George, Schnitzer, Fishman and others must hit the reset button and welcome an influx of emigres from the war in Ukraine. President Joe Biden announced last month that the U.S. would welcome 100,000 Ukrainian refugees, some number of whom can be expected to resettle in

justice problems; transportation pollution is one of our biggest contributors to climate change,” said Ann Gadwah, an organizer with Connecticut’s Sierra Club chapter. “We need to address this head-on.”

Promoting electric vehicles

Senate Bill 4 would promote electric vehicles by providing rebates to residents, municipalities, businesses and others who purchase or lease them, with special priority for low-income people and those in towns and cities designated as “environmental justice communities.”

It would also set new targets for the purchase of electric vehicles by the state. Under this bill, the stateowned fleet should be 35% electric by 2025, 65% electric by 2027 and 100% electric by 2030.

Decarbonizing the electric grid

As local environmentalists note, electric vehicles only go so far in reducing carbon emissions if the state’s electricity is generated from fossil fuels.

Senate Bill 10 would set a 100% zero-carbon target for electricity supplied to consumers in Connecticut by 2040.

“We need a clear law in Connecticut that commits the state to zero carbon by 2040 in our electricity supply,” said Nathan Frohling, director of external affairs at the Nature Conservancy in Connecticut. “We need that because we need to motivate the other policies and programs that the state needs to do to get to that 100% goal.”

Removing community solar energy caps

Senate Bill 176 would double statewide caps on solar energy generated by community solar projects.

Advocates say the solar energy permitted under the current caps represents merely “a drop in the bucket,” limiting the state’s ability to shift to renewable energy on the timeline Gov. Ned Lamont has proposed.

“It is inexcusable that a state that supposedly is at the forefront of clean energy initiatives, that has this ambitious goal of 100% renewable energy by [2040], should be capping solar at [25] megawatts,” said Jeffrey Mayer, executive chairman of Juice Bar, a Connecticut-based electric vehicle equipment company.

“It’s fine to have more efficient vehicles that drive more miles for every molecule of carbon dioxide that they account for in the generation of electricity, but that’s not enough. It has to be combined with wind, with solar, with other renewable energy initiatives.”

Climate change education in schools

Another bill, HB5285, would require that all Connecticut school districts include climate change education as part of their science curriculum.

Liam Enea, president of the UConn Clean Energy Society, said he learned about climate change in an AP environmental science class, but he wishes other students received similar instruction.

“It’s understanding how each student and person has an influence on the world and how the actions they pursue in life affect everyone else,” he said.

Enea said the full slate of legislation in front of the Connecticut legislature gives lawmakers a chance to show they take climate seriously.

“The legislation before us today can unleash the unique benefits of clean, distributed energy across Connecticut, but they also pose a significant question of the state legislature,” he said. “How serious are you about achieving your climate and energy goals?”