DEP Continues with Overly Aggressive Agenda

03.13.2009
Issues & Policies

On Monday, March 16, the Environment Committee will receive testimony on SB-1106 which, among other things, would establish deadlines for the cleanup of thousands of sites across the state affected by historic contamination. 

Among other things, the proposal makes major changes regarding how spills, property transfers and industrial cleanups would have to be conducted.  CBIA is opposing this bill as far too radical a change—one that has had no input from practitioners and the regulated community and that, together with other regulatory changes the DEP is seeking, would cripple many municipalities, other owners of contaminated properties, and important economic development projects as well.

Hopefully, the Environment Committee will send the same message to the DEP on this bill as they did last week when they stripped language from another DEP bill, SB-871, that would have greatly expanded the agency’s abilities to assess substantial financial penalties against businesses for even first-time, minor violations that pose no direct threat to the environment or human health.

CBIA appreciates the Environment Committee’s efforts to restrain DEP’s surprisingly aggressive legislative and regulatory agendas that would make Connecticut a less attractive place to locate or grow a business or to invest in brownfields or other economic development projects.

For more information about SB-1106 or any of the DEP’s legislative or regulatory initiatives, please contact Eric Brown at 860-244-1926 or at eric.brown@cbia.com.

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