Energy Fund Raids Have Stopped, But Industry Says The Damage Has Been Done

HARTFORD, CT — The General Assembly adjourned this year without restoring $67.5 million to clean energy funds that had been swept as part of the budget in 2017.

The $67.5 million was part of a larger $145 million in energy fund sweeps the General Assembly approved under former Gov. Dannel P. Malloy to close a budget deficit.

Environmentalists and energy-efficiency businesses pointed out that the legislature and Gov. Ned Lamont could have used the budget surplus to restore some of the funds, but they decided against it and failed to restore them before the session adjourned on June 5.

Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin said Monday that he doesn’t know how to measure how much more progress his city could have made in improving its rankings on a clean energy scorecard if those funds had been available. Hartford was recently ranked one of three “Cities to Watch” in the 2019 City Clean Energy Scorecard because it eliminated all minimum parking requirements in its zoning regulations and mandated electric vehicle charging stations on everything except one, two, and three unit residential housing.

Read more: https://www.ctnewsjunkie.com/archives/entry/20190730_energy_fund_raids_stopped_but_industry_says_the_damage_has_been/