CT Green Energy News May 17, 2024

News and events for advocates of clean energy, energy efficiency and climate action at the state and local levels, focusing on Connecticut. Brought to you by People’s Action for Clean Energy (PACE), www.pacecleanenergy.org.

Some Connecticut Towns Are Banning Gas-Powered Leaf Blowers. Will More Join In?
New Haven Register. “Connecticut has seen a handful of communities taking action against the noisy and often environmentally-unfriendly equipment. In January, Greenwich adopted a new ordinance to ban the use of internal-combustion leaf blowers during the summer months…Norwalk will require landscapers to shelve gas-powered leaf blowers eight months of the year…The California Air Resources Board estimates that running a gas-powered leaf blower for an hour produces pollution equal to a car that is driven from Los Angeles to Denver, which at just over 1,000 miles is the rough equivalent of the distance from Hartford to Jacksonville, Fla.”

OP-ED | Environmental Justice
CT News Junkie. “Power plants, highways, and other pollution sources in Connecticut disproportionately impact the health of Black and brown communities and low-income communities in our state. Here in Hart-ford, polluting energy facilities and two highways are key drivers of air pollution that make people sick. … This truth makes it all the more important that the State of Connecticut seize an unmissable opportunity to rectify the historic harm caused by one of our city’s highest polluting sources, the Capitol Area System. … For the Hartford community, exposure to pollution from the Capitol Area System and other fossil fuel combustion, has been a long-term environmental injustice that must be healed. … Hartford residents deserve a 100% clean and renewable Capitol Area System and job opportunities in the green economy, and we’re counting on Governor Lamont to ensure that it happens.”