Connecticut Department of Energy & Environmental Protection

Emergency Burn Ban In Effect 10/26/24 - An emergency burn ban is now in effect for all Connecticut State Parks, Forests, and Wildlife Management areas, prohibiting the use of all outdoor grills, firepits, and campfires, and the kindling and use of flame outdoors. DEEP and local agencies are working to contain several active fires across the state. Please avoid all affected State Parks and Forests, as well as the blue-blazed Mattabesett Trail. The Enduro Trail in Voluntown and portions of North Stonington within the Pachaug State Forest are closed at this time. Rocky Neck State Park is also closed until further notice due to a brush fire. Please note that today's forest fire danger report remains at a 'very high' or 'extreme' level. More information about the current fire danger, burn ban and recommended safety measures can be found here

Reducing the Number of Pending Legacy Permit Applications

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DEEP has been successful in implementing permit and enforcement process improvements to reduce the backlog of legacy applications. Those that remain have some level of technical complexity, public notification requirements, or potential environmental risk and need statutory or regulatory revisions or require long-term, complicated solutions for resolution.

Many of the remaining pending legacy permits are requests for permit renewal. For permit renewals, if a request has been submitted prior to the permit expiration date, the applicant's business can continue under the previous permit until such time that the permit can be renewed.

Moving forward, DEEP will continue to balance processing outstanding legacy applications with meeting the established timeframes of incoming applications.

 

Legacy for 20BY26 is with a five year look back. Of those 507 legacy permit applications from pre-2019 (includes 331 pre-2017 legacy), we have 152 pending applications as of Q3 2024, a 70% reduction in legacy.

Permit applications include: Air; Waste and Materials Management, including Marine Terminals; Water Discharges; and Water and Land Use, including Aquifer Protection, Coastal Activities, Dam Safety, Flood Management, Inland Wetlands and Watercourses, Remediation, and Water Diversion.