Capitol DisPatch: Shortening The DEP Process

Fast and furious is what the state’s environmental permitting process might be if a certain bill gets passed.

As such the General Assembly’s Commerce Committee is considering SB 1019, a bill that would give environmental permits automatic approval if Department of Environmental Protection doesn’t act on them within 45 days. This slashes the current wait from 180 days. The proposal has met with resistance from various environmental groups.

Lori Brown, executive director of the Connecticut League of Conservation Voters, calls the bill a “slap in the face.”

In fact, said Brown, this is the third time the committee has tried to reduce the period of permit consideration.

“Last year we had negotiated the number to 90 days if there was no action,” Brown said. “Now they want to slash it to 45. It’s a bad faith move. It’s an all out, in-your-face attitude that says: ‘We don’t want to be regulated.’ ”

Yet, several legislators said the permit process scares off developers and costs money.

“It’s very important to Connecticut’s economy and to be open for business as the governor says,” said state Sen. L. Scott Frantz, R- 36th.

A ranking member of the Commerce Committee, Frantz said more balance is needed.

 “One of the biggest single complaints that I hear is that regulations are just too onerous. The DEP does great work and their devotion to the environment and preserving it is admirable,” he said. “But it can’t take two to three years to permit something.”

It’s true a more streamlined system is needed, said state Rep. Gail Lavielle, R-143rd.

“At a time when helping businesses operate and grow is our highest priority, the state needs to do everything possible to expedite administrative processes like permitting,” Lavielle said.

But Lavielle cautioned that a 45-day scenario could result in permits being granted by default in cases where they should be denied.  Instead, she said it might be better for any new permitting legislation to be part of the DEP’s overhaul.

Andrea Stillman, Democratic state senator for the 20th Senatorial District, said the legislation is building on a prototype of a law put in place last year. She said the state has made advances in protecting the environment and that the new regulation would keep environmental safeguards in place while allowing for improved economic growth.

"Eliminating obstacles new businesses would otherwise have to clear is the first step toward the overhaul we seek to encourage companies to start here, move here, and expand here," said Stillman. "Governor Malloy says Connecticut is ‘open for business;’ we have to ensure our state government is accessible and encouraging to businesses."

Stillman added that Malloy has proposed major changes at the DEP, namely a combination of the agency with the Department of Public Utility Control. She said she believes the staff at the DEP could handle an accelerated pace.

"A cumbersome permitting process only compounds high energy costs and dramatic inflation in the healthcare industry," she said. "No one policy area is to blame; we are working in each to make Connecticut a more advantageous place for companies – large and small – to do business."

CLCV’s Brown doesn’t buy the argument that the permit process has impeded development. Moreover, she warned that expediting the process could strain already stretched DEP resources.

One solution that is gaining support is the idea of an ombudsman.

In previous testimony, the Hartford-based Connecticut Conference of Municipalities said it “advocates a ‘municipal ombudsman’ within each state agency that would be empowered to interact regularly and directly with local governments to move process.”

CCM supports the proposal.

“Our members have told us time and again about the delays and problems many projects experience when trying to navigate the bureaucratic permitting process through multiple state agencies. Municipal leaders and developers both have explained that the approval processes, with requirements that are either duplicative or counter to each other, can be so long that projects can founder and sometimes are abandoned,” CCM representatives said in testimony.

While appreciative of the need to grow the state’s economy, state Rep. Tony Hwang, R-134th, said he opposes the proposal.

 “I do believe we need to expedite the process, but 45 days is far to onerous for us to properly vet the process,” said Hwang who sits on the environment committee. Hwang does favor the idea of an agency ombudsman and said all this debate is good for business in the long run.

To some 45 days is a death knell to grassy knolls and burbling brooks.

“On behalf of Environment Connecticut’s statewide membership, I urge you to reject SB 1019,” said Christopher Phelps, program director for the Hartford-based Environment Connecticut, in written testimony. “This bill is a direct assault on our environment, allowing polluters to freely foul the air we breathe, the water we drink and despoil our natural landscape.”