Saving Money And The Environment

Every time political leaders face the double whammy of growing problems and shrinking resources, the talk inevitably turns to innovation. Every crisis has its opportunities we are told, and no matter how low in status we find the status quo, there is always the hope that we can innovate our way to better times. As cynical as we have become about political promises, the remarkable thing about this country is that this standard prescription seems to work time and again. Last week, we heard the siren call once again at the confirmation hearing for Governor Dannel P. Malloy’s nominee to head up state environmental and energy policy in Connecticut at the proposed Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. The nominee, Daniel C. Esty, a professor of environmental law and public policy at Yale, told legislators, “We’ve got to find a way to bring down electric rates. And we want to position clean energy as a platform for economic growth.”

Clean energy is still expensive and economic growth demands… well, economy. So the way to this bright future is littered with hurdles, but there is a rationale for Dr Esty’s abiding belief that with the correct environmental/energy policy, job-creating economic opportunity can again flourish in Connecticut. Having written extensively on the topic in books and articles in his 17 years at Yale, Dr Esty believes that the best companies do not dismiss environmental concerns and challenges as something to be ignored or downplayed. Environmental blundering costs money, he reminds us, noting that “smart companies seize competitive advantage through strategic management of environmental challenges.”

It will be interesting to watch how Dr Esty’s vision plays out in the gritty realities of Connecticut’s current economic crucible, heated as it is by soaring energy rates, competition from other states and abroad, and global economic uncertainty. Innovation may not be as potent a remedy as it used to be. But we subscribe to his view that the state’s environmental mission needs to move beyond the crusading days of the 1970s when the Department of Environmental Protection was first created and a 30-Years War between environmentalists and business interests ensued.

Clean environments and resource protection should be by now firmly established in every business plan, just as efficiency, economy, and opportunity should be a part of every environmental plan. In the 21st Century it will not pay us, environmentally or economically, to be tied to old assumptions about how best to save money and the environment.