CT Post: State Alone Can't Resolve Global Warming Press

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Connecticut Post

State Alone Can't Resolve Global Warming

March 23, 2008
Ken Dixon Column

Let's be real. Even though we're the third most-densely populated state in the nation, Connecticut is not going to stop the polar ice caps from melting.

We might as well develop some recipes for polar bear. ("First sit the bear down in the hall of the House of Representatives until it's bored to death...")

Our General Assembly's idea of progressive legislation is to push for a nominal 10 percent reduction of the 1990 greenhouse gas emissions by the year 2020.

Thanks to the Bush administration and the related greedy-subprime mortgage scandal, our budding recession should handle that quite easily. People will be out of work and losing their homes, but hey, there'll be less industrial activity to dirty up the air and fewer houses burning home heating oil. So we'll have that going for us.

Anyway, China's going to ignore the whole global-warming issue even further until they own our mortgages and the U.S. Treasury.

I appreciate the state's 2004 law that requires our Department of Environmental Protection to abide by California's stringent emission standards for vehicles.

But until the entire motor vehicle industry gets the average mileage up over 40 miles per gallon and the so-called Zero Emissions Vehicles emerge, Connecticut's going to continue to be a state where lone drivers tool around, entitled, in their Lincoln Navigators and Me-Me-Me Hummers.

Another 2004 bill, touted last week by well-meaning lawmakers in the Capitol in a progressive nod to long-term needs, started us out on the road to regional cooperation, which is our only hope to stop the daffodils from blooming in February.

"Unfortunately, we're already behind in reaching the 2010 targets," said Rep. Pat Widlitz, D-Guilford, during a feel-good news conference with environmentalists last week.

"Connecticut was one of the first states to set goals and release a global-warming plan, but we are falling behind on taking action," said Roger Smith, campaign director for Clean Water Action. "All indications are that Connecticut's global-warming emissions are still rising. We need to pass a law requiring reductions and directing the agencies to act in order to get back on track."

The next emissions goal, for 2050 (!!??!!), is to achieve reductions of 80 percent of the 2001 level.

So maybe by 2060 we will have reduced our emissions of carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons and sulfur hexaflouride back to our 2010 levels. What kind of progress is that?

"Connecticut can't solve global warming all by ourselves, but we can do our fair share," said Chris Phelps, program director for the non-profit Environment Connecticut. "Now is the time to adopt strong enforceable limits on global-warming pollution."

Here's the new bill, which I think will be approved before the Legislature ends its session at midnight May 7. Okay, a cap on carbon emissions from electricity generators is good, along with requirements for low-carbon fuels for vehicles and some heating oil. And the state should require agencies to consider greenhouse gas emissions when planning new programs and require tougher standards for new buildings.

Jessie Stratton, a former Environment Committee chairwoman who is now director of government relations for Environment Northeast, said the pending bill is a blueprint for the future.

"Implementation of policies such as the low-carbon fuel standard and better enforcement of the high-performance building codes are the kind of practical steps Connecticut can adopt to achieve the mandatory cuts in global-warming pollution," Stratton said during a news conference last week with environmental activists and lawmakers.

"As a representative of two coastal towns, I am greatly concerned with the impacts of rising sea level on our local roads, our bridges, our rail infrastructure, our planning for future land-use restrictions regarding low-lying properties, possible failure of sanitary systems, intrusion of salt water into our wells, which we're already seeing on the shoreline and changes of our ecosystem," Widlitz said.

Rep. Dick Roy, D-Milford, co-chairman of the Environment Committee, said global warming is still not understood and it's time people woke up and smelled the carbon emissions.

"Many people ask me do you really believe in global warming -- Do you think it's just a scare and I say, "No, I've seen it,'" Roy said, relating a story of a trip he took to Alaska a few years back.

"I walked up to a glacier and all the way up on that walk were signs '1993, 1994, 1995' showing how that glacier was receding over the years and that drove home the point that we're trying to make today," Roy said. "This is real. It's with us now. We can certainly do our share to help the future. So yes, I believe, I've seen it."

At this point, global warming is not some dire warning by America's vestigial left wing. It's also an election year and I doubt too many lawmakers would vote against this legislation. I guess it's good that we keep up with big states such as California, as long as it doesn't interfere with my plans to have beachfront property someday in Shelton.