Connecticut climate bills are killed by energy company lobbyists, study finds

Governor Ned Lamont announced this week that he is moving forward without state lawmakers to address climate change — and perhaps for good reason. A study from Brown University shows most legislation proposed over the last decade that would keep Connecticut on track to take action on climate change was derailed by lobbyists from the energy industry.

Most of Connecticut’s climate-related bills fail to make it out of the state’s environmental committee, which means they never go to a full vote with lawmakers to become law. That’s true for any kind of legislation, but what makes bills related to climate change different is that they have overwhelming support from public testimony.

“I think you have to wonder when 91% of the testimony is in favor of something, and yet bills die quietly in committees, somewhere in the process, that there’s some other influence being exerted,” said Timmons Roberts, the author of the Brown University study.

The study was released by an international group of scholars that he leads called the Climate Social Science Network. The group was started during the pandemic to coordinate and conduct global research into the political conflict over climate change.

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