According to a Hartford Courant article excerpted below, the state of Connecticut is not meeting its environmental goals.Connecticut is failing to meet its own goals for cleaning up the environment and needs an infusion of money and enthusiasm, and a substantial commitment to control sprawling development, according to a state report.The state should redouble efforts to clean the air, curb water pollution, conserve farms and forest land, and increase recycling and energy efficiency, the state Council on Environmental Quality says in its 2006 annual report, out this week."I think we've all just sort of turned our eyes away from these environmental goals," Thomas Harrison, chairman of the council, said Friday. "We've all maybe gotten a little complacent."
The council's report comes on the heels of two separate accountings that paint a sobering picture of the future of Long Island Sound. One, a federal assessment of estuaries around the nation, says the Sound is in poor condition, with too many contaminants in its fish and its sediments, and too little life on the bottom.The other report, from the Long Island Sound Study, argues that despite progress on many fronts, the state will have to spend billions to clean up the Sound. The report urges the state to adopt more sustainable development to better preserve open space and curb polluted runoff. Despite progress on environmental issues in the past, something shifted over the past two years, said Harrison, of the environmental quality council. "Last year there was a bit of a stall, no gain and no loss. This year's report [is] kind of disturbing to us."
The council's report comes on the heels of two separate accountings that paint a sobering picture of the future of Long Island Sound. One, a federal assessment of estuaries around the nation, says the Sound is in poor condition, with too many contaminants in its fish and its sediments, and too little life on the bottom.The other report, from the Long Island Sound Study, argues that despite progress on many fronts, the state will have to spend billions to clean up the Sound. The report urges the state to adopt more sustainable development to better preserve open space and curb polluted runoff. Despite progress on environmental issues in the past, something shifted over the past two years, said Harrison, of the environmental quality council. "Last year there was a bit of a stall, no gain and no loss. This year's report [is] kind of disturbing to us."
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