Climate & Environment

Climate change is here, and it’s affecting more Americans every day. The increasingly severe storms associated with climate change, like Hurricane Ida and Superstorm Sandy, are destroying Connecticut’s coastal communities, causing severe flooding, closing roads, and downing power lines. The price of inaction will be far greater than if we made meaningful and drastic changes to our energy and environmental policies.

Any serious climate plan must set an ambitious climate reduction target. That is why I’ve co-sponsored the 100% Clean Economy Act, which would make it a national goal for the United States to reach net-zero climate pollution by no later than 2050.

I also believe that we should put a price on carbon to boost demand for renewable energy technologies, improve public health, create new jobs, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. As it stands, the cost of pollution falls on the public — not on polluters. There aren’t incentives for polluters to change their behavior. A fully-refundable carbon fee would correct this market failure by shifting the cost to emitters. That is why I am a co-sponsor of the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act.

For several congressional sessions, I’ve introduced the National Green Bank Act. My bill would help establish and fund green banks across the country to finance, in partnership with private investors, eligible energy efficiency, solar, wind, geothermal, biomass, hydropower, fuel cell, and alternative fuel vehicles and infrastructure projects, among others. Connecticut’s Green Bank, after which the bill is modeled, has mobilized nearly $2 billion of investment into Connecticut’s clean energy economy.

I’ve supported various measures to promote clean energy innovation and domestic manufacturing, develop renewable energy resources, and create good-paying jobs. This includes everything from the Offshore Wind Jobs and Opportunity Act, which would create a grant program to prepare individuals to work in the offshore wind industry, to the Clean Energy Jobs and Innovation Act, which would invest in solar, electric vehicles, carbon capture technology, and green-collar jobs. I’ve also supported legislation that provides incentives for clean energy development through the tax code.

I will continue working with my colleagues in Congress, and my peers in the Congressional Sustainable Energy and Environment Caucus, to accelerate America’s transition to a clean energy economy.

We need to invest in our infrastructure and make Connecticut’s vulnerable coastlines more resilient to sea-level rise and extreme weather events. For this reason, I supported the passage of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which among other things, sets aside billions in funding for electric vehicle charging infrastructure, a new program to reduce transportation-related carbon emissions, and a Promoting Resilient Operations for Transformative, Efficient, and Cost-Saving Transportation (PROTECT) program to protect at-risk infrastructure in coastal states.

Another solution is to expand the adoption of nature-based shoreline projects. I’m a co-sponsor of the Living Shorelines Act, which would authorize $50 million annually for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to provide grants to state and local governments and nonprofits to develop and implement projects to improve coastal resiliency, mitigate shoreline erosion, and limit coastal damage. This funding would allow us to construct more coastal resilience projects, like the permeable concrete “reef balls” that safeguard Stratford Point.

During my time in Congress, I have worked to secure funding increases for one of our community’s national treasures: the Long Island Sound. These projects have helped improve water quality, restore habitats, and broadly revitalize the Sound. I’ve also supported robust funding for EPA’s Brownfields Program to ensure Connecticut communities can safely clean up and redevelop brownfield sites.

I’ve also voted for a number of bills to protect the environment for future generations. In 2019, for example, I helped pass the bipartisan John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act, a package of over 100 individual public lands, wilderness, water, and natural resources bills. I’ve co-sponsored and voted in favor of the Great American Outdoors Act, which ensures full and reliable funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund and provides a funding stream for long-neglected maintenance projects on federal lands. Dedicated funding from the Great American Outdoors Act will offer more opportunities to protect important Connecticut sites, like Johnson Oak Park, Sherwood Island, Carwin Park, Oyster Shell Park, the Stamford Nature Center, Jennings Beach, and Mathews Park – which have all received support through the Land and Water Conservation Fund.

I will continue to work to bring home federal dollars for projects in the Fourth District and fight to preserve our country’s natural beauty for everyone to enjoy.