Opinion: Connecticut must build a cleaner, more equitable future

Connecticut must contend with the future of our climate and energy policy. In 2024, our state weathered extreme heat, record rainfall, devastating flooding , wildfires , and region-spanning drought. Despite the clear signs of a warming planet and its risks to our health and safety, state leaders continue to delay the phase-out of oil and gas for energy.

Gov. Ned Lamont has said that gas is “where most of our power comes from and will for the foreseeable future.” Apathy toward climate justice and the transition to renewable energy is nothing new.



Over seven years ago, after watching President Trump pull out of the Paris Climate Accord as climate disasters struck the U.S. and the world, I co-founded Zero Hour, a global youth-led climate justice organization advocating to end the era of fossil fuels.

We led the Youth Climate March in 2018 in Washington D.C. and other cities worldwide.

Still, our federal government worked to expand oil and gas production. Meanwhile, the state of Connecticut chose to act. In 2018, Connecticut passed An Act Concerning Connecticut’s Energy Future , instituting a mandatory emissions reduction target of 45 percent below 2001 levels by 2030.

This was an ambitious goal. In 2018, it seemed like 2030 was enough time to achieve it. Now, our state is fast approaching this deadline without nearly enough progress to show for the past seven years.

This is the zero hour. To reach our mandated climate goals, we need leaders who champion renewable energy solutions and reject efforts by the fossil fuel industry to entrench Connecticut’s reliance on gas long past 2030. Despite government delays, Connecticut communities remain committed to local gas expansion fights.

In Brookfield, residents have stood firm in opposition to the proposed expansion of a Berkshire Hathaway and TC Energy gas compressor station. Compressor stations maintain the flow and pressure of fracked gas along a pipeline route. Due to serious health and safety risks, experts recommend compressors stay at least 1.

8 miles from occupied buildings. The proposed Brookfield expansion is within 1,900 feet of a local middle school and a mile of 800 residential buildings. An air permit approved by DEEP, the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, is the final step needed before construction begins on the Brookfield compressor.

DEEP must prioritize the safety of Brookfield students and residents and reject the permit. If approved, the expansion would only exacerbate energy cost concerns, threaten public health, and delay progress toward our 2030 climate goals. Berkshire Hathaway and TC Energy are not alone in their mission to expand gas power.

Enbridge has proposed a region-wide gas expansion project under the name Project Maple . The proposal seeks to expand a pipeline running through Connecticut and five neighboring states. If its full capacity is utilized, the estimated lifecycle emissions from Project Maple would be equivalent to the annual emissions from nearly 7 million gasoline-powered cars or seven coal plants.

Community activists along the pipeline route have organized rallies, written and distributed elected official sign-on letters, and spoken out at public hearings. Students have been at the forefront of Connecticut’s Stop Project Maple campaign, lending their voices and collaborating across states. Having worked at the international and national levels of climate advocacy, I can confirm the critical role local fights like Stop Project Maple and the Brookfield compressor play in our global movement.

This is especially true as the nation ushers in a new presidential administration intent on expanding liquefied natural gas. or LNG, exports and drilling on our public lands and waters. At a time when our federal government will fight to continue reliance on a polluting energy system, Connecticut has an opportunity, and a responsibility, to become a national and global leader in the transition to renewable energy.

DEEP must reject Project Maple and the Brookfield compressor and instead take a hint from Connecticut residents calling for more reliable, cost-efficient clean energy. Community advocacy makes me hopeful that we will achieve climate justice and safeguard our right to a livable future. However, the decisions that will turn our collective hope into reality rest on our local officials.

Let 2025 be the year we turn the tide. Community groups are organizing petitions and webinars now. Neighbors, join the fight.

Decision-makers, end the cycle of inaction, set Connecticut on course to achieving our 2030 goals, and begin to build a cleaner, more equitable future. Zanagee Artis is a founding member and executive director of the youth-led climate and environmental justice movement, Zero Hour . His hometown is Clinton, Connecticut.

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