Harry Droz Photo
Reed at WNHH
Are Connecticut’s farms and forests being paved over by avenues of solar panels?
State Rep. Lonnie Reed, (D‑102nd) and State Sen.Ted Kennedy, Jr. (D‑12th) are looking into that question. They have co-introduced a proposed Green Plan Law that is designed to figure out “best practices and rational approaches” to building grid-scale renewables and other energy infrastructure throughout the state.
Reed, a solar power advocate, discussed hitting the pause button during an interview on WNHH radio’s “Legal Eagle” program.
She co-chairs the state legislature’s Energy and Technology Committee; Kennedy co-chairs the legislature’s Environment Committee. They seek to create an advisory committee to work with Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) on grid issues facing the state.
The Green Plan Law would be similar to the Long Island Sound Blue Plan, which oversees current and future issues on the Sound. Under the Blue Plan, DEEP and the University of Connecticut convened relevant state agencies, academic institutions, and stakeholders to compile an inventory of the natural resources and the human resources of the Long Island Sound, and to use that information to develop a plan to guide future uses of the Sound’s waters and submerged lands.
Reed said she and Kennedy were hearing from people eager to protect farms and forests and other “environmental assets from being paved over with solar panels, fuel cell plants, 400-foot wind turbines and other energy installations. We want to have a better understanding of where these things are best suited.”
To listen to Reed’s full interview on WNHH radio’s “Dateline New Haven,” which also includes the role of the Affordable Care Act in helping business start-ups, click on or download the above audio file.
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