HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Environmental advocates criticized Connecticut lawmakers Thursday for tapping two energy conservation funds to plug state budget holes.
Legislators tapped the Clean Energy Finance and Investment Authority and the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative before restoring funds to the energy authority on Wednesday, the final day of the session with money from the greenhouse gas program.
“We’ve seen this story before,” said Christopher Phelps, director of Environment Connecticut, referring to previous moves by the legislature to reach into various funds.
“Siphoning off those funds means diminished growth, fewer jobs and a less bright future for our state,” said John Harrity, president of the Connecticut State Council of Machinists and a member of a state climate and jobs organization.
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and legislative leaders, seeing a budget gap in the tens of millions of dollars, approved keno and other measures to generate revenue. Lawmakers also turned to the energy funds for cash.
Benjamin Barnes, Malloy’s budget chief, said that the state also used $10 million from education funding to replace some of the money taken from the clean energy authority and greenhouse gas program. He said rising revenues will be used to further restore funds for greenhouse program. Officials reluctantly took money from the accounts for the two-year budget and can adjust the amount in the future, he said.
“So we absolutely intend to do everything in our power to reduce those sweeps down to zero, and I’m optimistic that we can. But we need to provide a balanced budget today, and this was one of the compromises we made,” Barnes said.
But environmental advocates accused legislators of raiding the funds, hindering overall efforts to boost alternative energy.
The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative is a cooperative effort among nine states in the Northeast with the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The cooperative includes Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont. The program has raised $72 million since 2008 in proceeds from auctions of allowances for carbon dioxide emissions, the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection says.
William E. Dornbos, Connecticut director of Environment Northeast, said diverting money from the program was a first and sets a bad precedent.
The authority, which relies on money from utility ratepayers, finances solar and other alternative energy projects and draws in private investment.
Authority President Bryan Garcia said about $25 million was taken by legislators for the two-year budget and transferred to the general fund. He praised Malloy and legislative leaders for restoring the money, but would not comment on why the funds were initially tapped.
“The legislative process is the legislative process,” Garcia said.
