Environment and Land Use

(April 11, 2008) Sustainable environmental and land-use policies can promote economic growth, job creation and improved environmental quality through effective and efficient management of natural resources. On the other hand, ill-advised environmental policies can have a negative affect and harm the economic climate in Connecticut.

Increases costs
HB-5600 harms Connecticut’s business climate by abandoning the state’s Climate Change Action Plan, which was finalized in 2005 after a two-year process involving a wide-range of Connecticut stakeholders. A small group of environmental groups proposed this bill, which, among other things, will increase energy and fuel prices, reduce energy reliability, create more government bureaucracy and add to the burdens of manufacturers in Connecticut. It calls for mandatory caps on carbon emissions, significant restrictions on new power generation, Connecticut-only fuel standards for motor vehicles and home heating oil, a minimum of nine new state regulations, additional reporting requirements on businesses, and a new class of state employee to conduct energy inspections. This bill will add significant costs for businesses and residents in Connecticut and weaken our economy.

Adds significant burdens
HB-5874 places an unreasonable burden on sellers of real estate in Connecticut The proposal requires anyone selling residential property to determine whether it is located close to any of eight types of potentially polluted sites, and notify prospective buyers. This information is very difficult to determine and verify. (In fact, the bill actually exempts the few companies that claim to have the ability to gather the information in a timely manner from liability due to inaccurate information.) A seller would have to sift through voluminous files at the Department of Environmental Protection where more than 8,000 reports are made each year. Creating such a burden on thousands of properties across the state is unjustified, bad public policy and bad for our economy.