As the new home of ConnPIRG's environmental work, Environment Connecticut can be contacted regarding this article.
By Georgina Gustin
New London Day Staff Writer, Environmental, Health/Science Reporter
In the lonely stretch between
Groundhog Day and Arbor Day, comes another Day—Earth Day—that has
risen only slightly higher in prominence than its outdoorsy neighbors since
it was first observed 34 years ago.
Earth Day is now printed
on calendars and acknowledged at festivals and parties, but it's hardly the
Fourth of July. And while some people make preparations to “celebrate”
Earth Day, that verb strikes many people, especially recently, as darkly ironic.
Many environmentalists roundly
accuse the Bush administration as being among the worst, if not the worst, government
ever for the environment. Under Bush, decades-old provisions of the Clean Air
Act have been administratively gutted, funding for toxic clean-up has been shifted
from the polluters to the taxpayers, limitations have been placed on the scope
of the Clean Water Act and regulations have been weakened on mercury emissions
at power plants. The Environmental Protection Agency under Bush has been the
subject of reams of lawsuits, including some brought by Connecticut Attorney
General Richard Blumenthal.
But as the lawsuits wind
their way through the system, the burden of protecting air, water, vegetation
and soil now must fall to the states, environmental advocates say, particularly
as state enforcement of federal rules gets progressively weaker with shrinking
budgets and lay-offs.
“In the absence of
federal action it makes it that much more imperative for the legislature to
step up,” said Christopher Phelps, of the Connecticut Public Interest Research
Group.
A handful of important environmental
bills could see approval by the General Assembly before the May 5 close of the
session. And though this short legislative session has been a “mixed bag”
environmentally speaking, according to Lori Brown of the Connecticut League
of Conservation Voters, there are some victories on the horizon — and some
disappointments in the recent past.
“There are two weeks
left in the session. We'll see what happens,” said Brown adding, “We're
the last line of defense.”
In fact, one of the biggest
environmental wins could come as early as today if a bill passes in the House.
Last week, the state Senate
passed the Clean Cars bill, which would place stricter emissions standards on
new cars and put more than 300,000 low-emission cars and trucks on the state's
roads within a decade.
“Frankly, there's no
bigger home run that the legislature could score on Earth Day,” said Phelps.
