CT deals seen as linchpin for ‘Access Northeast’

Connecticut’s emissions hit a low point in 2012, dipping beneath a carbon emissions pledge made in 2008, but it rose above that line in the three years that followed, according to a recent data analysis by the Acadia Center, which cited a number of causes that the state has little control over, including low gasoline prices and economic recovery.

“While it is too soon to predict with certainty whether Connecticut will meet its mandatory 2020 GHG emissions cap, implementing additional short-term mitigation measures will increase the likelihood of doing so,” Acadia said in its report this month.

The nonprofit has urged state officials to rely on energy efficiency, solar energy and electric vehicles to lower demand for electricity and fossil fuels.

“We take a long view of electric emissions and believe that any short-term reductions in pollution on cold winter days that might be provided by additional pipeline capacity will be far outweighed by the additional emissions that will result from locking us into additional fossil fuels for 20 or 30 years,” said Jamie Howland, who directs Acadia’s Climate and Energy Analysis Center.