Climate & Clean Energy

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Sierra Club is working with community and statewide partners to replace Hartford's Capitol Area System with a 100% renewable alternative.  Learn more and add your name urging Gov. Lamont to commit to a 100% renewable replacement for the fossil gas energy plant and buildings it serves. 

 

Solar and Clean Heat for All: Our Chapter has a vision to put solar power and clean heat into homes, businesses, schools and nonprofits in Connecticut to meet our state’s climate and clean energy goals. Right now, Connecticut lags behind on solar power per capita and needs to rapidly adopt heat pumps for space and water heating. Contact Steve Lewis. On February 27, Sierra Club and hundreds of solar supporters testified in support of solar bills before the legislature.

 

Pipeline opposition: Sierra Club is helping to organize opposition to Enbridge’s Project Maple, a proposal to expand Enbridge’s pipeline in Connecticut; Sierra Club is also working with local residents to stop the expansion of the Brookfield Compressor Station; and Sierra Club is currently intervening in the CNG SNG gas rate case before PURA. On February 2, Sierra Club responded to the Biden LNG export pause and the connection to state pipeline proposals. On February 16, Sierra Club participated in the public hearing held by PURA on the CNG SNG gas rate case. We asked PURA to reject gas utility plans for wholesale replacement of pipes, and plans for investing in pipelines and infrastructure for hydrogen and so-called renewable gas. We asked PURA to open a docket on the future of gas, and to require the gas utility to transition to innovative all-electric heat pump programs and non-pipe alternatives, and do it equitably and systemically. Over 140 of our members and supporters submitted public comments.

 

Zero Waste

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Sierra Club Connecticut is working with allies led by CT Coalition for Environmental Justice to oppose trash incineration and to implement Zero Waste policies. A new proposal for a recycling center and waste incinerator in North Haven has brought community members and municipal officials out to question the plan. Sierra Club CT and the Zero Waste Coalition are following developments and attending public meetings. We are meeting with DEEP and legislative champions to discuss potential zero waste policy on food waste. We are working with allies to draft a bill, tentatively called The Food Waste Recovery and Recycling Act. We held a webinar on food waste management on February 21 at noon, see recording here.

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Clean Transportation

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Sierra Club is working with allies to advocate for policies that promote car-free transportation, electric vehicles, electric vehicle charging, fleet transition, and more.  Sierra Club Connecticut is urging passage of two sets of clean transportation regulations drafted by the Department of Energy & Environmental Protection now before the legislature. On February 16, we held a rally outside the Legislative Office Building in support of clean cars and trucks and transit equity.

 

Land & Water

Remington Woods: Sierra Club Connecticut’s Save Remington Woods campaign aims to protect Remington Woods from development and to be preserved in its entirety. Remington Woods is a 422 acre forest in Bridgeport and Stratford. On February 14, supporters gathered at Remington Woods to deliver over 2,000  petitions in support of protecting and preserving Remington Woods to Corteva.  Follow news from the campaign on  on Facebook. 

 

Toxics

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PFAS: Stories about PFAs chemicals (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are appearing regularly in the news. PFAs are being found in our water, food and more. PFAs have the grave potential to detrimentally impact human health. 

 

Wildlife

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Wildlife: The Wildlife Committee is working to protect wildlife in our state through education and policy change, including bear education, and raising awareness of the dangers of mowing hayfields on the local grassland bird population, including the Bobolink. 

 

Insure Our Future

Insure Our Future: Banks, Asset Managers, and Insurance companies are all implicated in financing the fossil fuel industry. Here in Connecticut, Sierra Club is partnering with CCAG and the Insure Our Future campaign to urge the Connecticut insurance industry to stop investing in and underwriting fossil fuels.  On February 26, CCAG, Third Act Connecticut, and Sierra Club Connecticut joined with community members from Louisiana in a vigil at The Hartford. The company was identified as one of the insurers providing insurance to proposed LNG terminals in Louisiana.

 

Legislative Session

The 2024 legislative session began on February 7, 2024. Priority issues for the Chapter include climate, clean energy, wildlife, waste reduction, and toxics. Contact Steve Lewis, Legislative Chair, for more information.