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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08/09/2024

DEEP Releases First 20BY26 Progress Report

DEEP Implementing Process Improvement Measures to Better Serve the Residents, Municipalities, and Businesses of Connecticut

(HARTFORD, CT) – Today, the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) released the first report on the progress of DEEP’s 20BY26 initiative. This initiative, launched in February, builds on the foundation of DEEP’s highly successful 20BY20 initiative by setting 20 new targets to meet by the end of 2026 to make DEEP’s processes even more predictable, transparent, and efficient. These ongoing improvements will, in turn, benefit our state’s municipalities, businesses, other regulated entities, and residents.

“Successfully delivering on our mission starts with effective process,” said DEEP Commissioner Katie Dykes.  “That’s why one of DEEP’s strategic goals is to prioritize efficiency, transparency, and predictability in our regulatory responsibilities. In pursuit of that goal, in 2019 we set twenty process improvement goals to reach by the end of 2020—otherwise known as DEEP’s 20BY20Initiative. We have already made a strong start since the launch of 20BY26 at the end of February of this year. This is the first of several 20BY26 progress reports that will be released to ensure that the public has visibility into DEEP’s success towards these important new agency goals.”

The first 16 goals of the 20BY26 initiative were announced at a press event with Governor Lamont in March. Here are just a few highlights of the progress we’ve made so far:    

Adopt Release-Based Cleanup Program Regulations to Modernize Connecticut’s Environmental Cleanup Framework to make the cleanup of polluted properties more equitable and efficient: These regulations went to formal public notice on July 26th, following nearly 4 years of Working Group meetings co-convened by DEEP and the Department of Economic and Community Development that engaged legislative leaders, municipalities, developers, environmental consultants and attorneys, and other environmental leaders. A 90-day public comment period has begun, with additional public outreach, and we hope to submit the regulations to the Legislative Regulation Review Committee in early 2025.

Enhanced Public Records Transparency and Expand Tools for Online Resources will support the new release-based system the State is pursuing and focus on IT solutions that integrate records management, e-filing, e-payment, e-permitting, and data management functions. DEEP has already digitized 10 million Remediation records and is developing the framework for a pollution release reporting system.

Reduce the Legacy Permit Application Backlog: Since the beginning of the year, DEEP has resolved 125 “legacy” permits (permit applications that were not processed and are five years beyond estimated permit processing timeframes).

Strengthen Enforcement Resources: DEEP targets consistency and transparency in enforcement programs across the agency and ensures that equity and environmental justice are part of enforcement decision-making. DEEP has developed new tools that we are using to strengthen our enforcement programs, including a new Enforcement Data Viewer, our Geospatial Measurement of Air Pollution (GMAP) vehicle, and our Water Permitting and Enforcement Division (WPED)’s online Noncompliance Reporting Platform.

Collaboratively Develop Regulations that Implement Recent Environmental Justice Reforms and Effective Participation for Equity and Environmental Justice are goals based on Public Act 23-202, which updated Connecticut’s environmental justice law in 2023 and requires DEEP to create regulations that consider the cumulative impact of environmental and public health stressors when making certain permit decisions. DEEP has met with many stakeholder groups, partnered with Save the Sound to convene an Advocates Task Force to guide DEEP’s work with community stakeholders through this process, and identified six regulatory concepts which will form the basis of community and stakeholder engagement meetings throughout 2024 and 2025. DEEP has also created several tools to facilitate effective participation, including a Public Participation Guidance Document, a public participation form for permit applicants, and a flow chart that covers how the EJ process fits into the individual permit process.

With Expand DEEP Concierge Services to Municipalities and Small Businesses, DEEP has built out services tailored to the needs of municipalities and support their project planning and permitting efforts, including a new Municipal Hub webpage, established a Municipal Team focused on better communication and responsiveness, and begun sharing our Municipal Connections newsletter.

DEEP has also made significant improvements to our communications around grant funding (Tools for Navigating Available Federal & State Funding) and grant processing (Speed up Grant and Contracting Process by 50%). DEEP’s new Online Transparency Dashboard on Federal Funding helps the public better understand how to access Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act funding opportunities.  DEEP is also working hard to execute contracts faster so that state and federal funds can get to organizations and residents sooner.

Four Additional Goals:

When this initiative was launched in February, DEEP invited stakeholders to suggest four additional goals, to round out the set of 20 goals. The four new goals that DEEP is pleased to announce based on those suggestions follow:

  • Improve Efficiency and Effectiveness of Natural Diversity Database (NDDB) Review to build upon DEEP’s new e-NDDB Portal to strengthen the efficiency and predictability of NDDB response and review process.
  • Enhancing Dam Safety Through Improved Permitting for Repair and Removal to maintain public safety, provide environmental benefit for private and state-owned dams, and improve climate resiliency.
  • Establish Equity Hubs to build DEEP’s capacity to listen and engage with communities by focusing on key challenges, needs, and opportunities around health disparities, access to clean energy, community resilience, and equitable support.
  • Develop a Metrics Dashboard to add transparency and awareness to DEEP’s efforts to reduce greenhouse gases and reach Connecticut’s carbon reduction goals by 2040.

Commissioner Dykes continued, “I am grateful to the many commenters who suggested creative and impactful goal ideas. I am also grateful to the many DEEP staff members dedicated to this effort, which is already making a difference for our state.”

You can read the first 20BY26 quarterly report here.

If you’re interested in signing up to receive quarterly progress updates, to learn more about 20BY26, and to get involved in any of the initiatives mentioned in the report, go here.

If you have questions or comments about 20BY26, please email DEEP.20BY26@ct.gov.

For more information on the 20BY26 initiative, please visit the 20BY26 webpage.

Twitter: @CTDEEPNews
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Contact

DEEP Communications  
DEEP.communications@ct.gov
860-424-3110