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. Please note that today's forest fire danger report remains at an 'extreme' level. More information about the current fire danger, burn ban and recommended safety measures can be found here

Press Releases

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06/30/2017

PURA Commissioners Elect Chair and Vice-Chair

Today the Commissioners of the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority re-elected Commissioner Katherine S. Dykes as PURA's Chair and Commissioner John W. “Jack” Betkoski, III as Vice-Chair.
Dykes, a Democrat, recently served as Deputy Commissioner of the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) and was appointed as a PURA commissioner last October by Governor Dannel P. Malloy. An attorney, Dykes previously served as Deputy General Counsel for the White House Council on Environmental Quality, and as Legal Advisor to the General Counsel for the U.S. Department of Energy. She is a graduate of Yale College and Yale Law School and currently resides in West Hartford.
Betkoski's re-election today caps two decades of service as a PURA commissioner, the last ten years of which he has served as the agency's Vice Chair. A former legislator specializing in water issues, he is presently First Vice President of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners. Betkoski, a Democrat, is currently Chairman of the Connecticut Water Planning Council, and a member of the American Water Works Association Research Foundation’s Public Council on Drinking Water Research.
Commissioners Dykes and Betkoski are joined by Commissioner Michael A. Caron, a Republican from West Hartford.
The Public Utilities Regulatory Authority is required by law to elect a Chair and Vice-Chair annually, in June, for a one-year term beginning on July 1.
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