Governor Commends Newtown Energy Goal,

Environmental Award Winners

Governor M. Jodi Rell told The Newtown Bee this week that she will continue to follow the efforts of Newtown’s Clean Energy Task Force closely, as will towns across Connecticut. In addition, the governor commended a Newtown-based company and regional effort to protect a local trout breeding habitat during Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection’s annual GreenCircle Awards ceremony, which was held in Burlington September 17.

Gov Rell said 2008 marks the tenth anniversary of GreenCircle, an awards program.

“We continue to honor those who have made an enduring commitment to Connecticut’s environment,” Gov Rell said. “Through their efforts and volunteer hours, they have helped improve the quality of life for our residents.”

Since 1998, the DEP has honored more than 850 schools, institutions, civic organizations, businesses and individuals for more than 1,250 projects that have preserved natural resources and protected the quality of the state’s air, water and lands.

“Many of our GreenCircle Award recipients have submitted new projects year after year, making it clear that there are many things we can do to improve the quality of our environment — we just need to make a commitment,” said DEP Commissioner Gina McCarthy. “Protecting the environment is not just about laws and government regulation, it is about individuals, organizations, and businesses who take action — on their own — to protect our natural resources and use them wisely.”

In the past decade, GreenCircle award winners have helped decrease:

*Water use by more than 643 million gallons each year (municipal, river and/or well water)

*Air emissions by 11 million pounds each year

*Hazardous waste by more than 1 million pounds each year, including 750 pounds of elemental mercury

*Spent solvents by more than 800,000 gallons

*Solid waste by several hundred tons

The governor praised The Candlewood Valley Chapter of Trout Unlimited, which undertook a major restoration project of Deep Brook, a distressed Class 1 trout stream in Newtown.

Charter Communications was also honored for implementing an annual videotape recycling program to coincide with Earth Day. The Newtown-based cable company collected 7,000 tapes, or two tons of material, that will be recycled.

An analysis of the GreenCircle Awards shows that businesses, municipalities, civic organizations, and individuals are moving toward more environmentally friendly life decisions such as:

*Businesses seeking ISO 14001 Certification;

*Installation of “closed loop systems” to avoid the discharge of contaminants and hazardous materials into rivers and streams;

*Increased recycling of mercury-added products (including lamps) and electronic equipment;

*Major reductions in electricity consumption;

*Purchasing “Green-E” energy; and

*Construction of more environmentally friendly buildings such as LEED certified buildings.

The governor also praised Newtown for leading the state in its commitment to using maximum sustainable energy generation in municipal facilities in a proclamation issued September 19. According to Dan Holmes, chairman of the Newtown Clean Energy Task Force, the governor recognized his group and the Board of Selectman for “their hard work, innovative leadership and commitment to excellence in fiscal responsibility and environmental preservation.” (See related story.)

The GreenCircle Program is an on-going award program and award categories are for both common and innovative activities in the environmental field.