Connecticut
Current Campaigns
Take Action: Urge Governor Rell to Sign Legislation Banning Toxic Chemicals in Children's Products!
We did it! With partners in the Coalition for a Safe & Healthy Connecticut, Clean Water Action worked to pass legislation restricting lead and banning asbestos in children's products.
Your calls to legislators, e-mails, and participation in various actions sent the message to Connecticut legislators that this was an issue that had to be addressed. In addition to reducing lead and asbestos, the legislation requires our state agencies to compile a list of hazardous substances in children's products, and corresponding safer alternatives. It also ensures that Connecticut can work with other states to implement our new law and pave the way for modernized chemicals policy.
Take Action
Please call Governor Rell at 1-800-406-1527 and ask her to sign this bill into law!
Sample of what to say:
Hi, I'd like to leave a message for Governor Rell
My name is ________and I live at (street/town) and am a member of Clean Water Action (and any other relevant group).
I was very pleased to see both the House and Senate pass bills HB 5650 and HB 5025 that limit lead and asbestos in children's products.
I strongly urge the Governor to sign these bills to protect my child/children from exposure to the toxic chemicals. Can you tell me if the Governor plans to sign these bills into law?
Thank you for your time.
Please let us know if you call and what the response was, so we can track our progress. E-mail Sarah Uhl.
Global Warming Report Card: Connecticut Regains Tie for Lead
However, State and Region Not on Track to Reduce Emissions - Mandatory Limits Sought
Hartford, CT—Six years after the New England Governors and Eastern Canadian Premiers made a landmark commitment to reduce global warming pollution, the New England Climate Coalition issued its forth annual report card independently assessing the region's progress. Connecticut improved from a C+ in 2006 to a B- in 2007. Connecticut led the New England states in 2004 and 2005, but action had then stalled until this year's legislative session.
- Read the full release...
- Get the New England and Eastern Canada Climate Change Action Report Card 2007
Urge Governor Rell to Support Safer Alternatives to Toxic Chemicals
Over 200 diseases and disabilities are now linked to toxins in our everyday environments. Toxic chemicals and heavy metals are widely used in manufacturing and threaten health and child development. Many types of cancer, as well as learning disabilities, asthma, infertility, Parkinson's Disease, brain damage and birth defects are now linked to the toxic substances found in our daily environments.
Safer alternatives exist for many chemicals of concern, and others can be developed with the right resources. The European Union has banned approximately 1,400 of the most toxic chemicals, and Connecticut companies will need to transition to safer alternatives to stay viable in the global market.
Governor Rell has the opportunity to safeguard our economy and our health by taking action on this issue.
Take Action Now: Urge Gov. Rell to support safer alternatives to toxic chemicals
Act Now to Stop Global Warming
A recently released study by the Union of Concerned Scientists and more than 50 independent scientific experts shows that if global warming goes unchecked by late this century, summers in large parts of Connecticut could resemble sweltering summers today in Georgia.
Without strong action on global warming Connecticut could face the following:
- Health: By late century, Hartford is projected to experience nearly 30 days over 100°F every summer, increasing ozone smog days and health risks for its most vulnerable residents.
- Coastlines: What is now considered a catastrophic once-in-a-century coastal flood in New London and Groton could, by late century, occur as frequently as once every 17 years.
- Fisheries: If high emissions continue, the Long Island Sound lobster population is expected to collapse entirely by mid-century.
Take Action: Members of the U.S. House and Senate must hear from citizens that they cannot compromise our future by passing a bill that doesn't actually solve the problem. Ask your Senators and Representative to support the Global Warming Pollution Reduction Act in the U.S. Senate (S. 309), and the Safe Climate Act (H.R. 1590).
The Coalition for a Safe & Healthy Connecticut
The CSHC is a growing alliance of citizens, scientists, health professionals, workers, and educators seeking preventive action on toxic hazards.
Our goal is to correct fundamental flaws in government policies that allow harm to our health and environment. We will create proactive policies to prevent harm before the damage is done, and to choose the safest alternatives.
We believe protection of our health must become the first priority of government policy. We support innovation to advance safer technologies, materials and solutions.
Get more information and join this exciting campaign!
Victory: New funding bill for school bus retrofits!
In late June 2007 the Connecticut General Assembly and Governor approved a state budget which included $10 million for diesel school bus retrofits.
The funding, spread out over 2 years, will cover the full cost of purchasing and installing pollution control devices for the approximately 3,400 school buses in the state that are able to be retrofit and aren't scheduled to be immediately replaced. Pollution controls will keep exhaust out of the cabin and reduce tailpipe pollution up to 85% and retrofits must be completed by September 1st, 2010.
Learn more about diesel pollution and find out how to get your organization involved.
Victory: New energy bill moves global warming fight forward!
Clean Water Action and environmental allies worked hard at the legislature to make efficiency and clean energy the basis for Connecticut's energy policy moving forward. The passage of a comprehensive energy bill this session is the most significant progress on the Connecticut Climate Change Action Plan made in the past few years.
Energy Bill highlights
- Make power plants pay for their global warming pollution
The Connecticut General Assembly set a national global warming precedent by requiring the Rell administration to implement the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a landmark 10 state program to limit CO2 pollution from power plants. This bill will require the Rell administration to sell permits to emit global warming pollution to power generators and to reinvest the proceeds in energy efficiency and new clean energy generation.
This will send a message to power generators and their investors that global warming pollution is a financial liability and that they should not expect a free ride under any state or future Federal climate regulations.
- Energy Planning with "Efficiency First" Requirement
For years CT has been hurt by a lack of real energy planning. The energy bill creates a new "Connecticut Energy Advisory Board" (CEAB) bringing together consumer representatives and state agencies charged with planning. The CEAB will also not have generators represented on it.
The new CEAB will submit comprehensive electricity plans to DPUC assessing the potential of efficiency to meet our energy needs. The bill mandates that investments in efficiency to reduce demand come before expensive new supply, which should dramatically increase the amount of money available for conservation programs. Investments in efficiency could stop the rise in load growth and thus need to build additional power plants for years to come, and lower bills.
- 20% Clean Electricity by 2020
Connecticut's Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) currently requires utilities to procure a portion of their electricity from clean energy sources such as wind and solar power increasing to 7% by 2010. The energy bill extends this requirement to 20% by 2020 which is what was called for by the CT Climate Change Action Plan. Congress is debating a similar standard for the nation as a whole, making CT's precedent important.
Other climate policies in the energy bill:
- Climate Plan Policy #31: End raid on Energy Efficiency Fund
- Climate Plan Policy #51: End raid on the CT Clean Energy Fund
- Climate Plan Policy #19: High performance green schools requirement
Other good policies:
- $500 rebate on efficient natural gas or oil boilers
- Sales tax exemption on any car (hybrid or regular) getting 40MPG city or highway between January 1, 2008 and July 1, 2010
- Requirement that towns exempt solar, wind, and fuel cell systems from local property tax
- Starting June-July 1, permanent sales tax exemption for efficiency products such as insulation, programmable thermostats, compact fluorescent light bulbs, solar electric and space and water heating systems and installation, geothermal systems and installation as well as gas furnaces that meet Energy Star standards and oil furnaces and boilers that are 84% or more efficient
- Improvement to net metering law to allow customers with clean energy systems up to 2MW to roll over excess energy for up to a year
Learn more
Read a summary of the bill or read the full bill.
Get a fact sheet on the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, global warming, and consumers (pdf, 42kb)
New Report: A Climate For Action: Assessing Connecticut's Global Warming Progress
Evidence from decades of scientific scrutiny has overcome skepticism that mankind can alter the climate of the Earth. In 2001, the Intergovernmental Panel on climate change (IPCC) issued a scientifica assessment, concluding, "There is new and stronger evidence that most of the warming observed over the last fifty years is attributable to human activities."
Connecticut: Small State, Global Significance
Connecticut has a history of setting national precedents ith strong environmental policies. In the past few years, the "Sooty Six" law to reduce sulfur dioxide from power plants and the 2003 mercury law have prompted other states to issue similar regulations, and their successes have undercut national arguments by industry that such standards were technically infeasible.
This new report from the Connecticut Climate Coalition and Clean Water Fund reviews Connecticut's progress on the Climate Change Action Plan released on February 15, 2005 looking at 14 critical policies which account for 91% of the total forecasted reductions ub 2010 and 93% of the total in 2020.
Read the press release...
Executive Summary (884 kb)
Complete report (2.8 MB)
You will need to have the Adobe Acrobat Reader properly installed to view PDF documents. You can get it free from Adobe.Global Warming
Global Warming is a serious threat that is having negative impacts now, and is expected to expand dramatically in scope and severity. Global warming is caused by the burning of fossil fuels, which creates a blanket of heat-trapping pollution in the atmosphere.
In contrast to Federal inaction on global warming, in 2001 the New England Governors and Eastern Canadian Premiers acknowledged the threat, and committed to work together to reduce global warming pollution. To ensure that the New England Governors and Eastern Canadian Premiers' Climate Change Action Plan is implemented, environmental, health and other groups around the region formed the New England Climate Coalition in 2002 to press for progress.
Clean Water Action formed the CT Climate Coalition, and has been joined by over 90 health, faith, business, and environmental organizations. Clean Water Action has succeeded in passing global warming legislation which mandated that the state release a comprehensive global warming action plan. Now we need to work to implement the plan, and we are focusing on cleaning up power plants, reducing diesel pollution and improving energy efficiency.
For more information, please visit www.newenglandclimate.org/connecticut.htm
If your organization would like to endorse the Connecticut Climate Coalition, please download the CCC Endorsement Packet (pdf, 24 kb)
Download our campaign fact sheet here. (pdf, 46 kb)
20% by 2010 —Clean Energy
The goal of this campaign is to make 20% of Connecticut's energy supply come from clean, renewable energy sources like wind and solar by the year 2010. We are working to encourage municipalities to commit to this goal, and so far 35 towns have committed to purchase clean energy! Learn more about our work on clean energy or find out which communities are involved.
Individuals also have the opportunity to support power generated from clean energy sources like wind and water. Sign up for one of the new CT Clean Energy Options and ask your friends, neighbors, and town to purchase clean energy.
Please visit our Clean Energy page for more information.
Clean Water Action Campaign Victories
Since 1998, Clean Water Action has won a number of legislative and regulatory victories. Please read more about highlights of our successes.
