News Releases - 2024

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• 5/20/2024 DEEP Announces More Than $980,000 in Grants for Marine Sewage Disposal Facilities for the 2024 Boating Season

  (HARTFORD) — The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) announced today that 30 marine pumpout facilities will receive $980,982 in funding for the 2024 boating season under DEEP’s annual Federal Clean Vessel Act (CVA) program. This program is an effort to improve water quality in Connecticut’s navigable waterways by providing federally funded matching grants for qualifying projects that provide boat sewage disposal facilities, more commonly known as pumpouts.

• 9/3/2024 DEEP Requesting Applications for $15M in Available Materials Management Infrastructure Grant Funding

  (HARTFORD, CT) —The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) is pleased to announce $15 million dollars in grant funds available to Connecticut municipalities, councils of government, and regional waste authorities to support the development of materials management infrastructure (MMI) at the local and regional level in direct response to the solid waste disposal crisis that Connecticut municipalities are facing.

• 8/30/2024 DEEP Urges Caution as State Park Lifeguard Presence Reduced on Labor Day Weekend

  (HARTFORD, CT) – The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) today reminded State Park visitors that the number of lifeguards at State Park swimming areas will be reduced over Labor Day weekend, and that Monday, September 2nd, will be the last day for lifeguard coverage in the State Park swimming areas.

• 10/18/2024 DEEP Requests Proposals for Grants for Aquatic Invasive Species Control on Lakes Ponds and Rivers

  (HARTFORD, CT) –The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) is now accepting proposals for the Aquatic Invasive Species (AIS) Grant Program for 2025. Applications will be accepted through December 6, 2024. Please visit the DEEP AIS Grant Program website for details on how to apply for 2025 grants.

• 7/3/2024 DEEP Stew Leonard and Greater Waterbury YMCA Highlight the Importance of Water Safety

  (HARTFORD)—Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) Deputy Commissioner Mason Trumble joined Stew Leonard, Jr., President and CEO of regional supermarket company Stew Leonard’s, and Co-founder of the Stew Leonard III Water Safety Foundation; and officials from the Greater Waterbury YMCA Wednesday at Black Rock State Park to promote swimming safety and the importance of swim lessons, ahead of what’s likely to be a busy July Fourth holiday weekend on Connecticut waterbodies. DEEP Lifeguards also conducted a water safety demonstration Wednesday with children from the Greater Waterbury YMCA.

• 4/26/2024 DEEP Celebrates Arbor Day in Communities Across Connecticut

  (HARTFORD) — The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) joins communities across the state on April 26th and throughout the month of April to celebrate Arbor Day.

• 11/8/2024 DEEP Announces First Opportunity for Service Providers to Participate in the $144M Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program

  (HARTFORD, CT) – The Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) has launched the prequalification process for eligible entities to participate in the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program that will provide $144M to the State of Connecticut for broadband infrastructure expansion projects in 2025. Participation in the Prequalification Phase is essential to ensure potential applicants meet compliance requirements ahead of the application phase of the program. Unless providers and other entities interested in bidding on projects prequalify, they are ineligible to proceed in the program.

• 6/18/2024 DEEP Forecasts Elevated Levels of Ozone for June 18 - 21

  (HARTFORD) — Connecticut’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) is expecting temperatures in the mid-to-upper 90s (˚F) beginning today, with high temperatures persisting into Friday. The National Weather Service has issued an Excessive Heat Watch for Hartford and Tolland Counties, while a Heat Advisory is issued for Litchfield, Windham, Northern Fairfield and Northern New Haven Counties. These hot temperatures will contribute to elevated ozone levels for parts of inland Connecticut beginning on Tuesday and continuing through the end of the week. These levels may approach or exceed Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups (USG) levels for parts of Connecticut on June 18th, and may continue through Friday, June 21st.

• 12/23/2024 DEEP and Connecticut Green Bank Announce Funding and Low-Interest Financing Available for Electric School Buses

  (HARTFORD)- The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) and the Connecticut Green Bank (Green Bank) have announced the availability of a $46 million pool of state and federal funding to support the deployment of electric school buses (ESBs) and the associated charging infrastructure. Municipalities, school districts, and school bus transportation companies are eligible and encouraged to apply by January 7, 2025.

• 4/19/2024 DEEP Environmental Conservation Police Make Arrests in Alleged Railroad Tracks Theft Case

  (HARTFORD) — The Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) Environmental Conservation (EnCon) Police arrested two individuals on April 9 in connection with the theft of railroad tracks from Connecticut Valley Railroad State Park in Old Saybrook. EnCon officers conducted an extensive investigation with assistance from the Valley Railroad Company.

• 10/23/2024 Governor Lamont Announces $30 Million Investment for Infrastructure Improvements at State Parks

  (HARTFORD, CT) – Governor Ned Lamont, chairman of the State Bond Commission, today announced that the commission voted at its meeting this morning to approve an allocation of $30 million that will be used for infrastructure repairs and refurbishment needed across the Connecticut State Parks system, including $3 million that will be used to make critical repairs at state parks impacted by the extreme flash flooding event Connecticut experienced on August 18, 2024.

• 10/22/2024 DEEP Soft Launching All-Terrain Wheelchairs at Five Connecticut State Parks and Forests to Increase Access to the Outdoors

  (HARTFORD) — The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) is pleased to offer Connecticut State Parks and Forest visitors the ability to reserve all-terrain wheelchairs at five State Park and Forest locations through the remainder of the fall hiking season. DEEP will be using the soft launch to gain valuable feedback from users which will help inform the deployment of these wheelchairs in the spring, for the full duration of the 2025 recreation season.

• 8/21/2024 DEEP Reports Case of EEE in White-tailed Deer in Connecticut

  (HARTFORD)—The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) today announced that a white-tailed deer that exhibited neurologic symptoms and died on August 12, 2024, in Lisbon, Connecticut, was infected with the eastern equine encephalitis (EEE) virus.

• 3/1/2024 Governor Lamont Announces Progress on Release-Based Cleanup Program To Spur Remediation of Blighted Properties

  (HARTFORD, CT) – Governor Ned Lamont, Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) Commissioner Katie Dykes, and Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD) Interim Commissioner Dan O’Keefe today announced progress on the development of release-based cleanup regulations that will streamline the remediation and redevelopment of blighted properties impacted by pollution from past industrial uses.