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Fighting for Our Future in Connecticut
Climate promises broken, but hope for overburdened communities
Connecticut’s 2023 state legislative session started with a number of proposals to hold the state accountable to its climate commitments and protect communities from worsening pollution. Save the Sound and fellow members of the Connecticut Coalition for Climate Action backed major bills to update Connecticut’s climate targets and give agencies the tools to meet them; to develop a roadmap to reach those targets; and to strengthen the state’s environmental justice law and let agencies deny permits for facilities that would worsen pollution in already-overburdened areas.
The environmental justice bill, SB 1147, passed in the final days of session, a major victory for communities disproportionately impacted by pollution and for the newly-formed Coalition.
“We applaud the General Assembly for uplifting the health of people of color this session,” says Alex Rodriguez, our environmental justice specialist.
But despite the efforts of allied organizations, grassroots supporters like you, and a small cadre of dedicated legislative champions, no major climate bill passed this year. One was sent to a budget committee to die. Another made it through the House, but wasn’t called for a vote in the Senate. This inaction shows a legislature vulnerable to fossil fuel industry pressure and increasingly out of step with Connecticut voters, who overwhelmingly support climate action.
“The climate crisis is here, and its impacts are already being felt by all of us,” says Charles Rothenberger, our climate and energy attorney. “CT DEEP must be granted the tools and authority to reduce emissions, as the legislature has charged the agency with doing.”
