Going Green, But How Far?

This was a very green week, with both St Patrick’s Day and the vernal equinox on the calendar. The combination of green carnations and green daffodil shoots pushing up through clods of earth rendered our hope for an early spring into something we could actually smell. It is the time of year when the mind shifts, and mud becomes not just mire but a medium for change. The advocates for change on Newtown’s Clean Energy Task Force, who have become expert at discerning hopeful signs, this week were celebrating something that emerged from the notorious mire of government: the federal Environmental Protection Agency recognized Connecticut as one of the nation’s top green power purchasers.

The local task force, justifiably, took some of the credit for the honor. They responded to Governor M. Jodi Rell’s challenge to towns and cities to purchase 20 percent of their power from renewable energy sources by the end of the decade by upping the ante. Newtown committed to a 26 percent goal, setting the bar higher than any other town in the state. According to the EPA, Connecticut’s purchase of more than 98 million kilowatt hours of clean energy had the environmental impact of removing 13,000 carbon dioxide emitting vehicles from the road for a year. Good news, right? Not so fast.

From the state budget mire in Hartford we discover that Gov Rell has proposed eliminating $50 million designated for clean energy and energy conservation over the next two years as part of her deficit reduction package presented to the General Assembly. Her timing couldn’t have been worse. As part of its economic stimulus package, the federal government is prepared to send Connecticut nearly $40 million in energy grants designed to foster clean energy initiatives, grow green jobs, and cut the state’s dependence on fossil fuels. There’s a catch, however. States must certify to the federal Department of Energy by March 23 that funding for energy programs are at or above previous spending levels. Gov Rell’s economizing deprives the state of an opportunity to leverage a $50 million expenditure into a $90 million investment in jobs, technology, and energy independence for the State of Connecticut.

The Democrats in control of the General Assembly have rejected the governor’s proposal, but they are so bogged down in rolling out their own budget proposal, the March 23 deadline will come and go and federal stimulus funds for clean energy will be diverted to states that were prescient and coordinated enough to comply with federal guidelines. Instead of going green, Connecticut may end up stuck in the mud, going green with envy of those states more in step with the times.