MONDAY: NPR Inauguration Special Coverage
TUESDAY: Inauguration and Income Inequality
President Barack Obama gave his second inaugural address yesterday. He sounded liberal policy themes – talk about climate change, gay rights and the power of entitlement programs. We’ll look at what his words signal about his second term.Also, did you know that the Kenya and Kansas (the birthplaces of President Obama’s father and mother – respectively) have a similar income inequality gap? That’s just part of a new comparison study by online news service Global Post – Coming up, we’ll look at how they’ve compared the ways Bridgeport, Connecticut is similar to Bangkok, Thailand.
WEDNESDAY: Education
We’ll get the latest news on education in the state – from teacher evaluations, school safety and sexual violence on campus.
THURSDAY: Green Energy
Today we roll up our sleeves and dive into the details of Connecticut’s plan to develop and foster clean and renewable energy and how our efforts compare to those of other states. We’re joined by DEEP commissioner Dan Esty and folks working on wind and solar power.
FRIDAY: Pipelines
The United States is home to over 2.5 million miles of pipelines. Today, we’ll examine the regulation, safety, cost, and efficiency of the underground water and gas tunnels that run throughout Connecticut. With approximately 590 miles of transmission pipelines alone, could an expansion of the state’s natural gas pipelines really help benefit Connecticut businesses? Moreover, how do we monitor pipeline safety in relation to human and environmental health? We’ll also take a closer look at the controversy surrounding the proposed MDC UConn pipeline and Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman’s recent approval of the revised Keystone XL route.
It isn’t for students, its for corporations. –The UCONN water pipeline plan for mass diversion of water was quietly introduced by the Town of Mansfield with very little public information. In fact, no one representing the town even attended a December public hearing. Instead, a UCONN team from the financial office and others from the consulting firm hired to “evaluate environmental impact” presented a massive plan that had clearly grown enormously: with only minimal need being established.
A representative from UCONN’s so called, “environmental compliance” office treated residents with open disdain, refusing to answer any questions even those related to the process and what might happen when the previous public comment deadline ended (then it was Jan. 4, 2013).
There were complicated maps lining the wall to show the extent of their water pipeline plans. MDC “option” would bring water from over 50 miles away in Barkhamsted and Burlington.
The actual “need” has yet to be established other than “growth” which is completely open ended. No limits have been set, and so we have no idea how much water will actually be taken from Connecticut rivers and reservoirs once UCONN gains control of it.
Also to be established, the reason that Mansfield’s town council and other officials would turn to the University of Connecticut for planning, decision making, and execution, of this water pipeline plan. UCONN is not a water company. They are therefore completely unregulated and the state laws that would apply to a water company do not apply to them. We need legislation immediately to review the question of who gets to decide on water usage and planning of water transfer that would place existing users of the water at risk. Those who are presently using the water for their homes might wish to pay close attention to what their elected officials at the Legislative Office Building in Hartford decide to do here. Their water use, and future needs of the towns near the reservoirs targeted by UCONN, should be of primary importance and only an independent analysis will provide vital information these residents need to protect them.
Those of us who live in Mansfield know all too well what tends to happen when UCONN sweeps in with offers of cash to town officials. Here we have a group within the town that has been pressured by a few realtors to provide water. Wells were tested, but failed. It was an expensive problem. Enter UCONN and we lose all representation. Saving money leaves us in a very bad position when it comes to our rights. And if private water companies are interested enough in this “plan” to want to provide water, there must be a profit in there somewhere. Why can’t the town work with UCONN to do this right? To sort out potential ways that the water can be adequately shared, and if a profit is to be made by selling it to UCONN, the town, and local residents, should benefit.
These are difficult questions that the town and UCONN were leaping past in their haste to get the pipeline through quietly.
Yes, MDC is very controversial, but the other two “options” to use water from beautiful Mansfield Hollow Reservoir and other reservoirs in Tolland as well as Willimantic Water Works, are too. The Mansfield Hollow site is one of the most beautiful scenic areas in the state, and heavily used by both humans and wildlife. It will be unrecognizable if 5 million gallons per day is drained out to serve corporations co locating at UCONN. These corporations will also drain our tax base as the highly promoted “downtown development plan” has, and taxpayers, residents, get zero in exchange for major risk taking.
This plan created by a “public/private” group which also includes some of the very same people who will profit from further development, began with a rather low need for additional water to supply Mansfield’s Four Corners at Route 44/195 and for students. It was under 1 million gallons per day. Soon however, the group under the guidance of UCONN’s financial office determined that the need was for 5 million gallons per day. That is being walked back at this point, and so are the promises made to various other towns who also expressed the desire to be on this pipeline.But the town’s consultants told them to plan for over 20 years, and that means over 5 million gallons per day.
They won’t be included according to the latest public hearing in Farmington, but then, is this really a PUBLIC WATER LINE? No, of course not, It is a poorly designed, poorly researched plan put together by those who will profit (individuals selling land, and corporations being cultivated by the university to come to the technical park) and realtors who will profit as their land that was previously not marketable can be sold for business purposes.
The Town of Mansfield must reverse their entire decision and begin again to solve the problem of water shortages at a few lots in town. They include a site at 44 and 195 that was polluted by gas station usage. At that very site, a new gas station is nearly completed and Cumberland Farms will be profiting from a mega convenience store. –There are many other gas stations and convenience stores in that neighborhood already. Yet we are given to believe that mass water transfer via new infrastructure in “necessary”. It isn’t. UCONN can locate the tech park elsewhere. Willimantic, Hartford, are better options.