Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Levy presses Spitzer to oppose Broadwater LNG terminal - Newsday.com

Levy presses Spitzer to oppose Broadwater LNG terminal - Newsday.com: "Levy presses Spitzer to oppose Broadwater LNG terminal"

Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy laid out his objections to the Broadwater liquid natural gas terminal in a meeting with Gov. Eliot Spitzer Tuesday and quoted Spitzer as saying he hadn't yet decided on whether to support the facility proposed for Long Island Sound.

"He listened intently and said he was looking to do an overall, comprehensive review of the area's energy needs before he comes to a decision," Levy said after meeting with Spitzer in Albany. The 15-minute session in Spitzer's office was to discuss a variety of topics, and Levy said they just "touched on" Broadwater. ...

Levy has contended that Suffolk County has jurisdiction as well under state law. He has said he would go to court to the stop the project if necessary and said Tuesday he would do so even if Spitzer, a fellow Democrat, supports Broadwater.

"I think the governor understands that we are going to be seeing eye-to-eye on many issues and that where we disagree I will have to vigorously defend Suffolk's interests," Levy said.

Local push is on for clean water funding

Norwich Bulletin - www.norwichbulletin.com - Norwich, Conn.: "Local push is on for clean water funding
By LIZ MUGAVERO
Norwich Bulletin

HARTFORD -- The Clean Water Investment Coalition Tuesday called on the General Assembly to increase funding to clean up Connecticut's rivers and Long Island Sound, asking for $157 million for the 2007-208 fiscal year.

The coalition's report found the Clean Water Fund program is still able to be repaired, but need for these projects is real.

Led by Norwich City Manager Bob Zarnetske, the coalition reiterated that without financial support, ongoing and proposed projects will not be completed.

'One such project is the sewer upgrade in the city,' Zarnetske said. 'We need the state to contribute funds to make it possible for our water to be clean. These projects are essential to ensuring our rivers and the Sound are clean and safe.'

Zarnetske said the problem is increasing costs in construction and engineering.

'The funds are necessary to upgrade plants and improve wastewater management systems as quickly as possible, so we don't pay more later.'

Eastern Connecticut cities/towns awaiting funding include: Waterford, Groton, Norwich, Old Saybrook, Plainfield, Killingly, Putnam, East Lyme, Sprague, Thompson and Montville."

"The Waterbury Connecticut Republican American Newspaper"

"The Waterbury Connecticut Republican American Newspaper"

Wastewater plants left high and dry

Wednesday, February 28, 2007

BY PAUL HUGHES

Copyright © 2007 Republican-American

HARTFORD - Norwich City Manager Robert Zarnetske is urging the state government to literally flush $157 million down the toilet next year.

This is the amount that Zarnetske and other local government officials contend is needed to ease a backlog of wastewater treatment projects in Connecticut.

A coalition of municipal officials, environmentalists, labor groups and business organizations is asking Gov. M. Jodi Rell and the legislature to approve $394 million in bonding for local and regional projects in the next two years. The group held a news conference on Tuesday afternoon.

The Clean Water Investment Coalition contends that lack of state funding has stalled projects in 66 towns, including Waterbury, Torrington, Sharon, Salisbury, New Milford, Naugatuck, Middlebury, Goshen and Cheshire.

The collective price tag for all those projects is more than $2.1 billion.

The requests range from a low of $150,000 to a high of $300 million.

The bond-supported Clean Water Fund was established in 1986 to provide grants and low-interest loans to municipalities for sewage disposal and wastewater treatment.

In that time, the fund has financed 445 projects worth $1.45 billion.

"We are here today because the Clean Water Fund in Connecticut is in trouble ... At present, our funding levels are not sufficient to get the job done," Zarnetske said.

A number of Democratic and Republican legislators attended the Clean Water Investment Coalition's news conference, including New Milford Rep. Clark Chapin, the ranking House Republican on the Environment Committee.

Clark said New Milford is still awaiting $27.5 million to expand its wastewater treatment plant.

The Western Connecticut town is also seeking another $2.2 million for two other projects. The city of Waterbury is looking for $40 million for a rehabilitation project, and the city of Torrington is requesting $27.2 million to upgrade its sewage treatment plant.

Rell included $70 million in general obligation bonds each for the 2008 and 2009 fiscal years in her proposed $35.8 billion, two-year state budget. These bonds pay for grants to local governments.

The Clean Water Investment Coalition contends $157 million in general obligation bonds is needed in 2008 and another $137 million in 2009.

Rell also proposed providing $175 million in revenue bonds in 2008 and 2009 to finance low-interest loans. Revenues from wastewater treatment projects are used to repay the bonds. The Clean Water Investment Coalition didn't address the issue of the revenue bonds.

From 1986 to 2002, governors and legislatures approved an average of $48 million a year in general obligation bonds for the Clean Water Fund.

From 2003 through this year, only $40 million in new general obligation bonds was approved, and cutbacks in prior authorizations totaled $78 million.

This resulted in an annual loss of nearly $8 million over the last five years, according to a study that Rell ordered.

The reduced funding stalled wastewater treatment projects. The legislature's research office estimated a backlog of more than 400 projects.

Rell Clean Water Initiative Too Small, Coalition Says

courant.com | Rell Clean Water Initiative Too Small, Coalition Says

One of Gov. M. Jodi Rell's major budget initiatives - to keep Connecticut waters free of pollution - is well-intentioned but too small by half, an alliance of environmental, municipal and economic interests declared Tuesday.

The Clean Water Investment Coalition said the state needs to allocate about $300 million over the next two years to water-related public works projects, the full amount requested by Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Gina McCarthy - compared with the $140 million Rell has proposed.

Besides a host of environmental groups, the 20-member coalition includes the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities, the Metropolitan District Commission, the Connecticut Construction Industries Association, the State Building Trades Council and lobstermen associations.

In a sign the coalition has lawmakers' support, the first speakers at a noontime news conference at the Legislative Office Building were the chairmen of the General Assembly's environment committee, who focused on protecting Long Island Sound.

"Every bit of water in Connecticut drains into Long Island Sound, which is our most precious natural resource," said Rep. Richard Roy, D-Milford. He spoke of endangered coastal marshes "where life begins" for the Sound ecosystem.

Sen. Bill Finch, D-Bridgeport, said the Sound is Connecticut's equivalent of the Grand Canyon. Boosting funding for clean water projects may be "the single most important thing the environment committee can do for years and years," he said.

The Sound, however, is forced to swallow about 2 billion gallons of untreated sewage a year, said Megan Hearne, steward of the Connecticut River Watershed Council. About half of it flows down the Connecticut River from the Hartford area.

The 2-year-old coalition, organized by the Conference of Municipalities, said the state's Clean Water Fund for pollution control projects, financed mostly by bonding, has been neglected in recent years. ......

Tuesday, February 27, 2007

EJ Magazine - Fall 2006



EJ Magazine - Fall 2006: "Life Without Nature

Research suggests that children who live disconnected from nature suffer poorer mental, physical and psychological health. Some hope school gardens will heal bonds severed between children and the natural environment.

by sarah kozicki

The raised garden beds behind Dawes Elementary School grow vegetables and herbs.

It’s humid inside the greenhouse, and the rich, earthy fragrance of healthy soil permeates the air. Plastic stretched around the metal structure lends an extra four degrees of warmth, allowing fragile, leafy greens to grow during Michigan winters.


The raised garden beds behind Dawes Elementary School grow vegetables and herbs.
Photo courtesy of Lynn Hyndman

Ten elementary school students, two each from grades first through fifth, chatter excitedly as they move between the beds of lettuce and radishes. Their small fingers reach into the wet mass of greens, cutting leaves off one by one with safety scissors to drop into the waiting collection bags.

This is Gunnisonville Elementary School in Lansing, Mich., — a school of children primarily from urban, low-income families, and where 58 percent of students are on the federal free or reduced-cost lunch program. The existence of the greenhouse is due largely to Laurie Thorp, director of the Residential Initiative on the Study of the Environment (RISE) program at Michigan State University. The teachers at Gunnisonville use the greenhouse and a gar"

Thursday, February 22, 2007

Opponents: 'Time for Super 7 has passed'

The Advocate - Opponents: 'Time for Super 7 has passed': "Opponents of the long-stalled Super 7 highway between Danbury and Norwalk yesterday lashed out against a proposal to revive it.

Plans for the controversial highway are dead, critics said, and it is pointless for lawmakers to discuss it. Super 7 has been in limbo for more than 50 years because of opposition from Wilton, Ridgefield and Redding.

'The time for the Super 7 has passed,' Ridgefield First Selectman Rudy Marconi said during a public hearing of the legislature's Transportation Committee at the Capitol. 'May it rest in peace.'
...
"This would be one of the worst environmental things that has ever happened to this state," said Roger Reynolds, a staff attorney for the Connecticut Fund for the Environment. "Superhighways don't decrease congestion. They increase congestion."

Wednesday, February 21, 2007

Connecticut Coalition Plans Huge Environmental Investment _ The CCSU Recorder

The Recorder: "A coalition of Connecticut environmental groups has asked the state of Connecticut to finance an environmental revitalization program over the next 10 years totaling $1 billion."

An Idea To Save Connecticut

Read PagePartnership to create a fund for land purchases promotes a sensible idea.

A coalition of conservation and preservation groups has a good idea to assure that Connecticut does not become one long, large subdivision: create a consistent revenue stream from the state to set aside key parcels of forest, wetlands and farmland each year. Perusing a map suggests that much of the state still is open space or state forests and parks. The problem is that suburban housing sprawl is advancing at a fast rate, A small state such as Connecticut can't absorb that kind of development without losing much of its character and charm."

NOT QUOTED DIRECTLY — i.e. EDITED — So a group — including pro-conservation organizations — is asking the governor and legislature to provide $62 million each year to buy property that requires protection. They would be fortunate to get a fraction of that amount.

Friday, February 9, 2007

Another federal agency calls Broadwater study flawed - Newsday.com

Another federal agency calls Broadwater study flawed - Newsday.com: "The National Marine Fisheries Services is contending in a detailed, six-page filing that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the agency empowered to approve or reject the project, failed in a 'draft environmental impact statement' released in November to fully assess the potential effects on marine life, commercial and recreational fishing and vessel traffic from both the construction and operation of the Broadwater plant that is proposed for the middle of Long Island between Wading River and Connecticut."

Wednesday, February 7, 2007

New Haven Register - Large crowd jeers truck school plan

New Haven Register - Large crowd jeers truck school plan: "SEYMOUR — Residents continued to drive home their point Wednesday that a proposed truck driving school in their Pearl Street neighborhood would wreak havoc on their health, cause grave concern for their children’s safety and make them prisoners in their own homes.

Nearly 100 residents turned out for the Planning and Zoning Commission’s public hearing, which was continued from Jan. 11. At press time, the hearing was still going on, and it was not known whether the commission would continue or close the hearing.

Resident Alex Danka opened the hearing by disputing a recent statement made by Vincent Mairano, owner of the All-State Commercial Truck Driving School, who had said in his 25 years of operating the school in Shelton, his facility had been accident-free, and his drivers had never even been ticketed.

Danka played an audiotape of Mairano’s comments made at a previous meeting. Danka then produced accident reports obtained from Shelton police, which showed All-State student drivers had, in fact, had three accidents while training in the big rigs within an 18-month period, from May 2004 to December 2005. ...

A lawyer from the Connecticut Fund for the Environment, Charles Rothenberger, speaking on behalf of the residents, cited several reports which stated "diesel fuel emissions are the No. 1 air toxin risk in the U.S.," and exposure can lead to heart attacks, asthma, cancer and even death, especially in the young and elderly."

Conservation hearing focuses on potential danger to river

Westport Minuteman - Conservation hearing focuses on potential danger to river: "The Saugatuck River and its unhealthy state was the focus of much public comment at the Monday night meeting of the Westport Conservation Commission as it again considered the application of the Westport/Weston Family Y to build a 100,000-square-foot building with a 34,000 gallon a day septic system on the banks of the that river.
"

Might California Ban the Old Bulb?

courant.com | Might California Ban the Old Bulb?: "SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- How many people does it take to change a light bulb? In California, the answer could be a majority of the Legislature.

The electricity-wasting incandescent bulb would be banned -- replaced by energy efficient compact fluorescents -- under a bill that Assemblyman Lloyd Levine plans to introduce.

He says the spiral light sources are so efficient that consumers should be forced to use them. The compact bulbs use one-fourth the electricity spent in an equivalent incandescent. "

State lawmakers have bright idea

New Haven Register - State lawmakers have bright idea It might be lights out for Thomas Edison in Connecticut and California.

Actually, the forward-thinking Edison, who perfected but did not invent the incandescent light bulb, might approve of efforts to replace the hot, fragile, energy-burning bulb with compact fluorescent lights, as state legislators are considering.

Proposals in both states would ban the sale of incandescent bulbs — invented by English scientist Humphry Davy in 1800 — in order to push us all toward the curly, low-watt bulbs that save energy and, over time, money.

Monday, February 5, 2007

Broadwater: Floating Folly

courant.com: Broadwater: Floating Folly: "RISING DEMAND FOR ENERGY IS NOT INEVITABLE[emphasis added]. SINCE THE 1920S, IT HAS BEEN A BASIC GOAL OF 'GROWTH MACHINES,' A TERM COINED BY SOCIOLOGIST HARVEY MOLOTCH IN 1976 TO DEFINE POLITICAL MACHINES COMPOSED OF CORPORATIONS WHO PROFIT FROM INCREASED GROWTH (OFTEN THROUGH THE MANIPULATION OF LAND, BUILDINGS AND ENERGY) AND THE GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS WHO WORK WITH THEM. ...

A 2006 report by Synapse Energy Economics found that existing land-based LNG terminals (including Bear Head in Nova Scotia and Canaport in New Brunswick, now under construction in eastern Canada and expected to begin deliveries in 2008) can meet present and future demand for imported gas in the northeastern United States. The authors argue that gas demand may actually decline through better management of existing resources, including storage facilities to help meet peak winter demand, as well as increased use of renewable energy, such as solar and wind.

As the price of gas rises, renewable energy becomes a more attractive investment. Promoting energy efficiency through buildings with better materials, orientation, insulation and sun control can also lower demand.

Because global energy corporations make no profits from renewable resources or conservation, Broadwater demonstrates just how committed pro-growth energy corporations are to increased consumption of imported LNG. ...

As New York and Connecticut face off against TransCanada and Royal Dutch Shell, the floating gas barge proposed for Long Island Sound provides a perfect example of how global energy concerns pervade everyday life. Energy policies already adopted by the states of New York and Connecticut prioritize renewable energy and conservation, while FERC favors supply for increased consumption.

The conflict is an important test of where the United States' energy future is headed."

Sunday, February 4, 2007

Get on the bus: More funds sought for transit

The Advocate - Get on the bus: More funds sought for transit: "Bus operators and advocates lobbied lawmakers yesterday for more funding, saying they could more than double ridership with a larger subsidy.

A lack of funds has led to service cuts the past five years, transit operators said during a hearing of the legislature's Transportation Committee at the Capitol.

"The reason more people don't use transit more is because it's not an option," said Ronald Kilcoyne, chief executive officer of the Greater Bridgeport Transit Authority that jointly operates the Coastal Link service between Norwalk and Milford with the Norwalk Transit District."

East Haven ready to vote on gas plant

New Haven Register - East Haven ready to vote on gas plant: "It looks like the town is about to break its silence on the Broadwater liquefied natural gas plant proposed for 10 miles off-shore.

For months, East Haven was one of the few state coastal communities that had not gone on record against the plant Broadwater Energy proposes to build in Long island Sound.
"

News Times Live Going green: Design movement growing to build environmentally friendly buildings

News Times Live Going green: Design movement growing to build environmentally friendly buildings: "If you could build a new school -- or office building or home -- that was sunlit and healthy, environmentally friendly, and that would save you lots of money for years to come, why wouldn't you?

That's the question people throughout the country are increasingly asking.

'Green' buildings are no longer some Whole Earth Catalog, off-the-grid pipe dream. They are increasingly becoming the standard by which other new buildings are measured.

'If you're building something that's going to last 50 years, why would you invest in something that's out of date?'' Gregory Kats, a leader of Capital E, a Washington, D.C., consulting firm specializing in energy-efficient building, said at a Green Buildings conference at the state Capitol last week."