Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Members of the Connecticut Public Safety and Security Committee became the first lawmakers to cast votes on gun control legislation this session when they approved three non-controversial measures yesterday.
The committee passed proposals requiring criminal background checks for the private purchase of guns and new requirements to host gun shows. A third measure would reduce the acceptable blood-alcohol limit for hunters to mirror the state’s driving-while-intoxicated statutes.
As they’re written now, the three committee bills do not include any of the more controversial proposals, which have been under consideration in the months since the December 14 school shootings in Newtown.


Connecticut Department of Energy and Environment Commissioner Daniel Esty appears to have convinced the Energy and Technology Committee’s chairmen this week that the state should focus more of its renewable energy portfolio on wind, solar, and Canadian hydropower. But he didn’t win over everyone.
The suggested changes would come at the expense of the state’s current focus on biomass and landfill gas. Dozens of environmentalists and industry groups turned out Tuesday to testify against specific portions of the proposal, which calls for expanding the state’s renewable energy portfolio to 20 percent overall by 2020 and 25 percent by 2025, It allows for Connecticut to join states like Vermont and Massachusetts in investing in large-scale projects.

About a hundred people representing labor, environmentalists and the faith community met at the Capitol Tuesday night for a Connecticut Roundtable on Climate and Jobs. WPKN’s Melinda Tuhus was there:
One speaker said that the labor movement was concerned that “green jobs” like home weatherization were not living wage jobs.
But Bryan Garcia, head of the Connecticut Clean Energy Finance and Investment Authority, said the green workforce includes a range…
His agency provides financing for green enterprises of all kinds.
Baptist minister Tom Carr said his religious worldview recognizes that everyone is connected and dependent upon one another.
Attendees broke into small groups to discuss the obstacles they see to implementing a good green jobs policy, like the power of the fossil fuel industry over Congress or the lack of information available to Americans upon which to make good consumer decisions.
For WPKN, I’m Melinda Tuhus


Connecticut Congressman Jim Himes urged the House Committee on Appropriations to remove bureaucratic barriers that are preventing already-approved flood mitigation projects from moving forward.
He said Congress should allow the Army Corps of Engineers to use some of the $5.4 billion included in the Sandy relief package to conduct flood mitigation projects in Southwestern Connecticut.
In 2010, Himes secured authorizations for the Corps to conduct flood mitigation studies for Fairfield and New Haven Counties. These studies have not taken place because Congress put a block on funding any new projects due to the backlog of unfinished projects.

Last week Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone called for closing a breach in Fire Island which he said was contributing to flooding in towns along Great South Bay.
Pro-breach residents believe the new cut at Fire Island’s Old Inlet isn’t causing more flooding and that closing it is a waste of taxpayer money.
In a posting on Patch, the residents say the inlet is not causing higher than normal bay tides and south shore flooding. They have initiated an online petition effort.

In a closely contested election in Greenport on Tuesday, Mary Bess Phillips and Julia Robins were elected as trustees on the village board.
They will serve on the board begining April 1 of this year through April 2 of 2017.
Robins and Phillips received the most votes. Former board member Bill Swiskey came in third.
Robins, who will be new on the board, said she would receive help from Greenport Village Mayor David Nyce and outgoing Trustee Chris Kempner. “I’ll be reading and studying,” she said. “I’m a fast learner. I’m really excited.”
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