Clearing The Air

The legislature and the governor gave the people of Connecticut an Earth Day present last week by backing legislation that should significantly reduce toxic emissions in the state’s air.

On April 22, the House of Representatives approved legislation already passed by the Senate and endorsed by Governor John G. Rowland that will require Connecticut to adopt California’s strict emission standards for cars, SUVs, and light duty trucks by December 31. The new law will impose the new standards on vehicles starting with the 2008 model year. The measure is expected to spur the development of more environmentally friendly vehicles for the Connecticut market, including increasingly popular gas hybrids.

In addition, the governor announced that he has issued an executive order that commits the state to purchasing 20 percent of the energy needed for state buildings from nonpolluting sources by 2010, 50 percent by 2020, and 100 percent by 2050. (SmartPower, the Hartford-based nonprofit marketing initiative for clean energy, claims that the electricity that powers the typical home for one year creates toxic emissions at power plants equivalent to those of a passenger vehicle crossing the state 215 times.) If the governor is looking for a legacy for his administration, other than scandal, this just might be it. His executive order makes Connecticut the first state in the nation to establish an eventual goal of using completely clean energy for state buildings.

Energy deregulation in Connecticut was supposed to foster clean-energy alternatives, including wind, solar, hydro, fuel cell, and biomass power, but so far that has not happened. So-called clean-energy companies never gained a foothold in the marketplace because they were small and could not effectively compete with conventional utilities CL&P and United Illuminating. The state pays about $65 million annually to provide electricity to its public facilities, and with a growing portion of that investment going to clean-energy alternatives, the fledgling industry should take wing. In addition, this fall SmartPower hopes to encourage residential power customers to pay a small premium and check off a clean-energy option on their electric bills.

Ironically all this good news for those concerned about Connecticut’s foul air (only California and Texas have worse air pollution) comes at a time when the state has once again shut down its hapless emissions testing program, which helps the state win federal highway funds. And notwithstanding his support for last week’s clean air measures, Gov Rowland asserts that Midwestern power plants, not vehicle emissions, are responsible for most of the state’s air pollution. Clearly, Connecticut cannot go it alone in the campaign for cleaner air. The federal government needs a more enlightened energy policy. Unfortunately, last year the Bush administration effectively eliminated the “new source review” of power plant pollution, which should keep the dirty air flowing our way from the Midwest for years to come.

The stakes are high. The American Lung Association analyzed air quality data for Connecticut from 2002 and found that the levels of air pollution in the state have put 1.5 million of our residents at risk for respirator disease, including 671,245 children, 455,314 senior citizens, and 188,323 adults with asthma. The potential for pain and suffering, not to mention the health care costs, for those at risk is reason enough to make the campaign for cleaner air in Connecticut a continuing priority for the state.