DEP Requires More Jobs, More Money

The Department of Environmental Protection says it needs 60 additional staff and another half million dollars in resources if it’s going to significantly reduce the time it takes to process permits for businesses. The DEP had been asked to review its practices by the legislature. WNPR’s Harriet Jones reports.

Legislators passed a bill requiring this review back in July, after complaints that lengthy delays were causing businesses to move development plans out of state. The issue has since come up on the campaign trail with the gubernatorial candidates railing against bureaucracy that they say is costing the state jobs.

DEP’s review found that less than half of its programs meet the timeline goals outlined in the legislation, of giving a tentative determination on a permit within 180 days. It says it’s identified several ways to streamline the process, but it needs more cash to update information technology, and more staff to implement the changes. DEP Commissioner Amey Marrella:

“We understand there’s a great deal of work to do and that our permitting programs need to be efficient to support the economic growth that all of us want in Connecticut. I think the key though is that we want economic growth with environmental protection in order to have the sustainable economy and quality of life that all of us have come to appreciate in Connecticut.”

State representative Pat Widlitz says she recognizes that the DEP is underfunded, but she says the legislature will have to be creative about putting together the necessary resources from partner agencies such as the Department of Economic and Community Development the Department of Transportation and the Department of Public Health.

The DEP stresses even hiring 60 new people would not bring the department back to where it was before the early retirement programs of the last few years.

For WNPR, I'm Harriet Jones.