The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Lamont pushing climate-change agenda
EAST HARTFORD — Nearly 12 months after achieving a resounding victory for his administration’s climate goals, Gov. Ned Lamont is facing the headwinds of putting his plan into action.
Legislation that would authorize the state’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection to set new limits on greenhouse gas emissions across a broad range of economic sectors — including home heating a cooling — has been likened by Republicans to one of Lamont’s early missteps in seeking a multi-state approach to placing a price on tailpipe emissions.
Meanwhile, a separate effort to overhaul the state’s recycling system and reduce waste has drawn the ire of trash haulers, and landlords are upset about a governor’s bill that would require them to be upfront about the energy efficiency of units they rent.
Each of those measures, in part, is aimed at meeting Lamont’s goal of slashing Connecticut’s carbon emissions by 80 percent of 2001 levels by midcentury and fulfilling all of the state’s electricity needs through clean-energy power plants as soon as 2040. Lawmakers voted to codify both benchmarks into law last year, along with plans to increase solar energy, vehicle electrification and truck emissions standards.
On Wednesday, Lamont kicked off a week-long effort to draw attention to his latest series of proposals by visiting an air quality monitoring station near an elementary school in East Hartford with his DEEP Commissioner Katie Dykes.
When asked whether enthusiasm for his legislative agenda had waned following what was described as a “banner year” by climate activists, Lamont said that while there is still a willingness to expand upon those efforts, the feeling is being tempered by an economic climate that has sent gas and energy prices soaring.
“I think it is a little bit different in the sense that we were paying $5 a gallon for gasoline and home heating, so cost is front and center in people’s minds,” Lamont told reporters. “It doesn’t mean people are not as committed and passionate about the environment, but sometimes it’s a little more lip
service. You’ve got to be willing to put your shoulder to the wheel.”
Lamont’s news conference was supposed to coincide with an initial vote on each of his climate bills Wednesday in the legislature’s Environment Committee. Instead, the committee delayed its business until Friday due to a “clerical error” that resulted in the meeting being properly publicized ahead of time.
In the meantime, Republicans launched a campaign on Wednesday to oppose the governor’s bill to establish new “sector specific sub-targets” on greenhouse gas emissions. In a release, party leaders compared the bill to the failed Transportation Climate Initiative, which sought to specifically address vehicle emissions, dubbing the new plan “TCI on steroids.”
“The bill requires state government to report on the emissions of every resident and business in our state,” said state Sen. Stephen Harding, R-Brookfield, the ranking member of the Environment Committee. “From restaurants to office buildings, from single- and multi- family homes to apartment buildings, from manufacturers to farms, and even mortuaries, this legislation will adversely impact everyone in no uncertain terms. It represents government run amok.”
Dykes rejected the comparison on Wednesday, noting that the sub-targets were intended to align with the broader outline for reducing emissions
that lawmakers have already set. Connecticut has long struggled to keep up with its established goals of reducing emissions, Dykes added.
“These are provisions that we introduced last year. We heard the same concerns last year. We’ve
introduced it again this year and we’ll have to keep having this conversation as long as it takes because we can’t meet these targets without having the tools,” Dykes said.
Activists who hailed Lamont’s 2022 climate agenda also said this week
that they are not resting following their successful lobbying efforts.
“I can assure you that our enthusiasm is undimmed,” said Charles Rothenberger, an attorney for the advocacy group Save the Sound. “We all recognize that despite the great
work that was done legislatively last session, a lot of work remains undone.”
The governor’s news conference also came on the heels of the most recent report from the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which warned
that immediate action is necessary to avoid scientists’ most dire predictions of a warming climate. Dykes called the release “one of the most alarming and concerning reports on the progress of climate change that we’ve seen yet to date.”