This week our organization, 350 CT is co-sponsoring a Clean Energy Lobby Day on May 5 at noon in Hartford. We are joining the Connecticut Fund for the Environment, the League of Conservation Voters, CT Sierra Club and many other groups across the state in this effort because its time for our state’s leaders to put an end to the days of subsidizing dirty fossil fuels and to instead invest in clean, renewable energy.

While our neighboring states move forward with clean renewable programs like shared solar and wind energy, Connecticut continues to subsidize dirty fossil fuel infrastructure. One key example of our state’s backward policy of subsidizing fossil fuels is Public Act 15-107 which was passed in 2015 immediatley after an election here in Connectcut that utility companies and their executives contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to.

The act contained a provision that authorized these electric utilities to recover the costs of infrastructure projects such as the construction of new Fracked Gas Pipelines through a surcharge on customers’ electric bills. This was part of a larger strategy to finance and develop additional gas infrastructure capacity across Connecticut and New England. This includes the construction of five new gas-fired power plants, hundreds of miles of gas pipeline connections, compressor stations, and other related infrastructure projects.

What’s worse? We don’t even need the additional natural gas and the cost of one new pipeline along is estimated at $6.6 billion! According to a recent report by Synapse Energy Economics, the total cost to ratepayers for the proposed infrastructure projects could be as high as $6.6 billion. Additionally, Synapse concluded that additional pipeline capacity is not warranted, as New England’s use of natural gas is expected to decrease by 41% from 2015 levels by 2030, due to state requirements for energy efficiency, renewable energy, and emissions caps.

This is why 8,380 Connecticut residents from across the state signed a petition and another 4,430 wrote hand written letters to their legislators this week to show their support to invest in clean, renewable energy and to stop the Pipeline Tax.

The public has expressed a strong desire to see Connecticut transition away from dirty fossil fuel infrastructure. State residents want to embrace clean, renewable solutions to meet our future energy needs. We respectfully urge Connecticut lawmakers to enact these important clean energy policies, which enjoy broad public support, this year.

We hope that you will join us in Hartford on May 5th to help send a message to our lawmakers that the time for clean energy is now!

Diane Lentakis is an Environmental Activist who serves on the steering committee of 350 Connecticut and as manager of the CT Sierra Club’s Ready for 100% Clean Energy campaign.

Synapse Energy Economics, “New England’s Shrinking Need for Natural Gas” (2017). Taken from : http://www.synapse-energy.com/sites/default/files/New-Englands-Shrinking-Need-for-Natural-Gas-16-109.pdf

Clean Energy Lobby Day Saturday May 5th

Join us at the Capitol for  CLIMATE LOBBY DAY
Saturday, May 5—12 PM

CT Legislative Office Building
300 Capital Avenue · Hartford, CT

Come talk to your legislators in person! We’ll connect you with your legislator and teach you how to get your message across so they understand how important clean energy is.

Stay tuned for more details and registration. If you would like to join us or have any questions, email Melissa at [email protected].

Some Climate Legislation currently being considered:
Shared Solar SB 336
Shared Solar is not only a necessary part of getting CT to 100% renewable energy but it also allows those who can’t install solar at home more control of how their energy is produced. We must keep up the pressure to pass Shared Solar this year! Click here to send a Twitter message asking leaders to pass Shared Solar.

Good & Bad in Energy Bill SB 9
SB 9 increases renewable energy targets and energy efficiency standards because the public demanded it.
However there are also changes to net metering which would make it less attractive to install renewable energy systems and slow down solar growth in Connecticut.  The bill needs to amended to improve or at least not harm our net metering rules.

Climate Bill SB 7
SB 7’s climate targets & sea level rise measures are positive steps to meet the states climate commitments, and to plan better for climate change along our coast. The bill has broad support, but it isn’t moving.  We need to hold legislative leaders accountable for getting this bill passed.

350CT would like to announce these upcoming events to work for a safe climate in CT:

Yale Climate Change Discussion with Chris Murphy

Friday, September 13, 2013     2:00 PM to 4:00 PM

Burke Auditorium, Kroon Hall,

195 Prospect St, New Haven, CT

U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) will join in a discussion about climate change with Yale faculty members and experts on climate and infrastructure 2-4 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 13 in Burke Auditorium of Kroon Hall, 195 Prospect St

Yale Climate Change Discussion with Chris Murphy

Friday, Sep 13, 2013, 2:00 PM

Burke Auditorium, Kroon Hall,
195 Prospect St New Haven, CT

1 Earth Savers Went

U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) will join in a discussion about climate change with Yale faculty members and experts on climate and infrastructure 2-4 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 13 in Burke Auditorium of Kroon Hall, 195 Prospect St.Global climate models predict that the northeastern United States will be particularly vulnerable to short- and long-term…

Check out this Meetup →

Stop TD Bank funding Tar Sands
Saturday, September 14, 2013         11:00 AM

TD Bank   994 Chapel Street, New Haven, CT (edit map)

Picket at Connecticut’s TD Bank locations, in protest of TD’s investment in the Keystone XL pipeline. We are calling on TD customers to move their money to local credit unions. We will generally picket every other Saturday morning at 11 am.
http://www.meetup.com/350CT-org/events/137567342/

Draw The Line At TD Bank
Saturday, September 21, 2013      11:00 AM

TD Bank     911 Washington St, Middletown, CT (edit map)

We will protest in front of TD Bank in Middletown because they are a major investor in Tar Sands and the Keystone XL pipeline. We will be calling on TD customers to move their money to local credit unions and calling on TD Bank to fund renewable energy instead of toxic and dangerous fossil fuels.

http://www.meetup.com/350CT-org/events/137502362/
http://act.350.org/event/draw_the_line_attend/6237

Congratulations to the newly elected senators and representative of Connecticut as well as those that were reelected to continue to serve the citizens of CT. Most of the elected candidates have made very strong statements about fighting climate change and working to preserve our natural world. You can read statements from their campaigns on these issues here Ending Fossil Fuel Subsides.
While these statements are encouraging, it is up to us, as their constituents to let them know that these issues are important and these problems need to be addressed immediately. Please contact them regularly so that they do not lose sight of this fact.

Dear Governor Romney,

At the town hall on October 17, you restated your firm commitment to the Keystone pipeline project: “We’re going to bring that pipeline in from Canada. How in the world the President said ‘no’ to that pipeline…I will never know.”

Here are a couple of things I urge you to consider.

You can take a look at the north end of the pipeline where tar sands oil is being strip-mined. As you flip through the photos, please try to grasp the scale. I thought I had it until I got to slides 48, 49 and 50…After you take a moment to catch your breath, you can go through again and look for that tire.

http://www.businessinsider.com/photos-destructive-canada-oil-sands-2012-10?utm_source=alerts&nr_email_referer=1#

Just to be clear: These photos show only one little piece of the area that will be stripped to feed the pipeline. Remediation will never ever be possible. Please take a few minutes to hear why that should be an integral part of your decision-making.

At the town hall, you brought up the “all regulation is bad” idea. Here’s what you said: “So where’d the increase [in oil production under President Obama] come from? Well, a lot of it came from the Bakken Range in North Dakota. What was [President Obama’s] participation there? The administration brought a criminal action against the people drilling up there for oil, this massive new resource we have. And what was the cost? 20 or 25 birds were killed and brought out a migratory bird act to go after them on a criminal basis.” Do you really mean to make that your argument, your theme? Please look again at the short video about the forest. Maybe you’ll be swept up by its glorious complexity, and by how simple is the idea that Life itself depends on keeping the forest intact. It’s NOT 20 or 25 birds. It’s all the birds. And all the amphibians and all the insects and all the plants and all the fish and all the microbes and all the mammals…and and and all the organisms living in relationship on the land or in the water or flying in the air. What’s astonishing to me is that we’ve somehow constrained ourselves to the point that criminal action on behalf of 20 or 25 birds at a time is what it takes to stop us drilling there.

This can barely begin to explain why exploiting tar sands oil is a very, very, VERY bad idea, and why President Obama must make it clear that there’s no possible way he’ll approve the northern part of Keystone. I hope you will reach the same conclusion. Climate scientists are all but unanimous that anthropogenic climate disruption is real. Some of them put that into layman’s terms this way: EXPLOITATION OF ALBERTA TAR SANDS OIL IS GAME OVER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT.

Yours truly,

Cindy Moeckel
Ashford, CT
350CT

350CT is working to end unnecessary and harmful  subsidies going to the oil, gas, and coal industries by asking our candidates for federal office these 4 questions:

1. Do you support policies and legislation that would encourage the creation of green jobs and transition the United States to renewable energy?

2. Promoting walking, biking and public transportation have been shown to change behaviors that result in widespread obesity, greenhouse gas emissions, and increasingly higher costs for road, highway, and bridge reconstruction. Do you support infrastructure improvements that would decrease car usage in favor of biking, walking, and public transportation?

3. Do you support ending all fossil fuel subsidies — for oil, coal, and natural gas — which will total $113 billion over the next decade?

4. Will you support Federal legislation to reduce fossil fuel consumption and increase renewable energy production to reduce our nation’s impact on the environment and curb climate change?

We are starting to receive replies and you can view them here.   If your candidates have not responded yet please let them know that you care about this issue and would like them to reply.  If they have responded and you agree please thank them.  If you don’t agree please let them know.

More information on fossil fuels subsidies and your representatives can be found here: http://endfossilfuelsubsidies.org/

http://endfossilfuelsubsidies.org/heat/

http://www.elistore.org/Data/products/d19_07.pdf

Monthly Social Event: Bike/Hike

As many of you know, we are in the midst of an exciting transition.  At our last meeting on May 29 we discussed and approved the structure for the new leadership team, as well as a process to vote for said leadership team.

Kelly Forbush was voted to be our official election coordinator.

1. Collect Nominations (by June 16)
If you want to nominate yourself for a position on the leadership team, email Kelly a brief blurb about why you want to fill that position and what skills you will bring to the position.

If you want to nominate someone for a position, email Kelly the person’s name and contact information. (I’ll contact them to check that they are interested in the position and ask them to write a blurb)

2. Publish Nominations (on June 18)
Blurbs for all the candidates will be emailed to the 350CT listserv for viewing and absentee voting

3. Vote for our Leadership Team (June 26)

Please save the date for our really important 350CT leadership team elections meeting.

Tuesday, June 26
Start time: 6:30 PM
End time: by 9pm, hopefully earlier.
Location: TBD, in New Haven

If you want to vote on the leadership team, but end up not being able to come to the meeting, you will be able to cast your vote by emailing or calling Kelly at least 24hrs before the meeting. (I need time to compile absentee votes)
To vote you must have attended at least one other 350CT meeting.

Please write “350CT Elections” in the subject of you email.