A lack of fines could make some business owners lax, leading to environmental violations.
Should state regulators be more aggressive in punishing first time violators of environmental law? That's a question the Council on Environmental Quality hopes lawmakers wrestle with in the upcoming legislative session.
Karl Wagener is executive director of the CEQ. He said the nine-member board watches trends in Connecticut's environment and independently reports back to legislators with recommendations about what the state can do better.
One idea for January's legislative session: reduce the number of overall environmental violations by getting tougher with fines. "By far, the largest group of businesses that are getting notices of violation are companies that are involved in the distribution and sale of petroleum," Wagener said. "Particularly gas stations and convenience stores."
Wagener said efficiencies within the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, spurred on by federal requirements to inspect gas stations more often, have led to gas businesses getting more violation notices.
It's important to note that more environmental violations is not necessarily a bad thing, but Wagener said these notices often don't have fines attached, which he believes could makes business owners lax about conducting required tests or keeping proper records.
"In our view, DEEP is wasting too much sort of time on this sort of thing," Wagener said. "People who do that should be faced with an automatic penalty, so that DEEP could focus its resources on other problems."
He said those problems include pollution from stormwater runoff and overall waterway health needs.
Public comment on the proposed legislation ends December 16. Connecticut's legislative session kicks off on January 7.
