News Releases

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• 1/15/2025 DEEP Announces Request for Qualifications for Community Resource Hubs

  (HARTFORD, CT) – The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) has released a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) seeking proposals from qualified organizations to serve as DEEP Community Resource Hubs (Hubs) in environmental justice communities in Connecticut. The purpose of the Community Resource Hubs will be to better connect Connecticut residents in environmental justice communities, including economically distressed communities, with DEEP services and programs that can benefit residents and their communities.

• 2/4/2025 Release-Based Cleanup Plan Poised to Transform Connecticut’s Blighted Properties and Spur Economic Growth

  Today, Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) Commissioner Katie Dykes, and Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD) Commissioner Dan O’Keefe announced that the release-based cleanup regulations (RBCRs) have been submitted to the Connecticut General Assembly for review and approval. These regulations will streamline the remediation and redevelopment of blighted properties impacted by releases. Approval by the General Assembly’s Legislative Regulation Review Committee (LRRC) is the final step in the regulatory adoption process.

• 5/30/2025 Connecticut Greenways Council to Hold 26th Annual Greenway Awards and Kick Off Connecticut Trails Day Events

  (HARTFORD) — The Connecticut Greenways Council (CGC) will host its 26th Annual Connecticut Greenway Awards at Riverfront Recapture’s Boathouse in Hartford on Friday, June 6, 2025, at 10:00 a.m. The event is traditionally held on the Friday before Connecticut Trails Day, which occurs the weekend of June 7 and 8, 2025.

• 3/18/2025 DEEP Announces More Than $1 Million in Clean Vessel Act Funding to 39 Marine Sewage Disposal Facilities to Help Keep Connecticut’s Waterways Clean in 2025

  (HARTFORD) — Connecticut’s Department of Energy & Environmental Protection (DEEP) announced today that 39 marine sewage disposal facilities, more commonly known as pumpouts, will receive $1,034,987 in funding under DEEP’s annual Federal Clean Vessel Act (CVA) program for the upcoming 2025 boating season. The funding is used to improve water quality in Connecticut’s navigable waterways by providing federally-funded matching grants for qualifying projects that provide pumpouts.

• 6/23/2025 Connecticut and Northeast States Issue   Request for Information to Explore Cost-Saving Transmission Projects

  (HARTFORD) – The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) today joined eight other Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states in issuing a Request for Information (RFI) seeking interregional transmission project concepts that would improve grid reliability, support economic growth, and reduce costs for consumers. The RFI was issued by the bipartisan Northeast States Collaborative on Interregional Transmission, a group formed in 2023 to fill a gap in today’s interregional transmission planning processes. Through this collaboration, DEEP is working to unlock reliability benefits and cost savings for the state’s ratepayers.

• 6/4/2025 DEEP Forecasts Elevated Levels of Ozone for June 4–5 2025

  (HARTFORD) — The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) is expecting temperatures to reach the mid-to-upper 80s (˚F) beginning June 4th, with high temperatures persisting and reaching near 90 on June 5th. These warm temperatures will contribute to elevated ozone levels for western Connecticut and inland areas on Wednesday and continuing from southwest Connecticut to northeast Connecticut on Thursday. These levels may approach or exceed Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups (USG) levels for these parts of Connecticut.

• 5/8/2025 ADVISORY: DEEP Kicks-Off the 20th Anniversary of the No Child Left Inside® Families in the Parks Program With Free Family Fishing Day May 10th

  (HARTFORD) –The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) is pleased to announce that the 20th Anniversary of the No Child Left Inside® (NCLI) Families in the Parks Program will begin on Saturday, May 10, 2025, with Free Family Fishing Day!

• 4/11/2025 DEEP Invites You to Celebrate Spring Fishing Day on Saturday April 12

  (HARTFORD) — Connecticut’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) invites all residents and their families to celebrate Spring Fishing Day this Saturday, April 12. Every spring, the second Saturday in April is the start of the “catch and keep” season for trout. Starting at 6:00 a.m. on April 12, anglers are allowed to keep the trout they catch, though the permissible numbers and size of fish that can be kept varies by waterbody. While trout fishing is open year-round, it is “catch and release” fishing only from March 1 until 6:00 a.m. on April 12 on most waterways in the state (the exceptions are Trout Management Lakes, Sea-Run Trout Streams, and waters designated as “Tidal Waters and Tributaries”).

• 6/18/2025 MEDIA ADVISORY: DEEP Boating Division and No Child Left Inside® Offer Family Boating Day on Saturday, June 21

  (HARTFORD) – The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection’s (DEEP) No Child Left Inside® (NCLI) Families in the Parks Program and Boating Division will host a free “Family Boating Day” at Indian Well State Park in Shelton from 12:00 to 4:00 PM on Saturday, June 21, 2025.

• 3/7/2025 DEEP Reminds Residents To Use Best Practices When Wood Burning for Heat During Remaining Days of Winter

  (HARTFORD)— Burning wood to keep a home warm is a long-standing tradition in New England, and we still expect to have a few more cold days before spring truly arrives. Depending on the source of the wood, wood burning can provide a cost-effective alternative to use of fossil fuels. This practice does produce indoor and outdoor emissions harmful to human health, however, which is why the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) is urging residents to protect their health and that of their family, friends, and neighbors by employing “best burn” practices. Properly burning the correct type of wood limits exposure to wood smoke, which is a toxic air pollutant.

• 1/22/2025 DEEP Environmental Conservation Police Make Arrest in September 2, 2024 Fatal Boat Accident

  (HARTFORD) — The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) Environmental Conservation (EnCon) Police arrested Clayton Hackling, 26, of Lyme, on January 22, 2025, in connection with the fatal boat accident that occurred at the mouth of the Connecticut River in Old Saybrook on September 2, 2024. EnCon officers conducted an extensive investigation with assistance from the New London State’s Attorney Office.

• 7/15/2025 Governor Lamont Announces State Grants To Protect 2,270 Acres of Open Space and Create Six New Community Green Spaces

• 4/30/2025 DEEP Reminds Boaters About New Aquatic Invasive Species Stamp Purchasing Requirement

  (HARTFORD) – The Connecticut Department of Energy & Environmental Protection (DEEP) today reminds those who operate a motorboat or personal watercraft on Connecticut’s inland waters that they are now required to purchase an Aquatic Invasive Species (AIS) Stamp through DEEP’s online Sportsmen Licensing System or wherever fishing licenses are sold.

• 7/31/2025 2025 GreenerGov Awards Honor State Government Leadership in Sustainability Efforts

  (HARTFORD) — The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP), the Office of Policy and Management (OPM), and the Department of Administrative Services (DAS) hosted the annual GreenerGov Awards Ceremony on Thursday, July 31 at the State Capitol. The event celebrates the exceptional efforts of State Agency staff and agency Senior Sustainability Officers (SSOs) in reducing state government environmental impact and advancing Connecticut’s climate and sustainability goals.

• 7/18/2017 DEEP Reopens Swim Areas at Rocky Neck and Mashamoquet

  Connecticut’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) today announced that the swim areas at Rocky Neck State Park, Niantic, and Mashamoquet Brook State Park, Pomfret, have been reopened.