Connecticut’s effort to become more “business friendly” is very much needed. Businesses in Connecticut know that the regulatory requirements here are much more onerous than in most – perhaps all – other states. Reform is needed and can be accomplished without harm to the environment. I suggest that one of the first changes should be the repeal of Connecticut General Statute §22a-19.

The statute sounds like a good idea. It gives “any person” the right to intervene in an administrative proceeding, ostensibly to protect the environment. The actual language, an indecipherable morass, says that one may file a verified complaint against a project if it “involves conduct which has, or which is reasonably likely to have, the effect of unreasonably polluting, impairing or destroying the public trust in the air, water or other natural resources of the state.” I challenge you to figure out what that means, and I guarantee that no local agency faced with such a complaint knows. Complaints filed under this statute are never challenged because this language sets forth no meaningful standard against which the complaint can be measured.

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