Environmental Commissioner Recuses Himself From Working On Housatonic Clean Up

The Connecticut Commissioner of Environment and Energy has recused himself from doing work related to General Electric and to more than two dozen other companies. As WNPR’s Nancy Cohen reports this means Dan Esty will not weigh in on the clean up of the Housatonic River.

Before taking the job as Commissioner, Dan Esty directed the Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy and was co-director of the Center for  Business and the Environment at Yale. Esty says he recused himself from working on any issues related to General Electric because he knew a number of G.E. officials and had received funding from the GE Foundation for his projects at Yale.  Esty even wrote about G.E.’s  battle over PCB clean up in the Hudson River in one of his books. 

“All of that  made it prudent to insure I was in no way  seen as making decisions on a company that I’ve had some close relationships with.”

Esty’s Chief of Staff, Robert Klee, who has a doctorate from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, will take Esty’s place as the point person on the clean up of the Housatonic River.

Esty has also recused himself from working on projects with 27* other organizations and businesses including: Nestle Waters, Dow Chemical, The Nature Conservancy and Connecticut Fund for the Environment. He says the fact that he understands how businesses think about the environment will help, not hamper, his work as commissioner.

“The truth of the matter is that I have a much deeper understanding of how businesses think about the environment from my past work as an  academic. And I’ve also got an understanding of the business environment relationship that’s informed by having actually worked with companies on their efforts to bring environment and sustainability into strategy.”

The D.E.E.P. says the agency remains committed to protecting Connecticut’s interests in any clean up of PCBs from the Housatonic River. The agency has been advocating for a clean up that removes enough PCBs so that fish are safe enough to eat.  

For WNPR I’m Nancy Cohen.

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*Commissioner Dan Esty’s Recusal List

Alcoa

BP

CH2M Hill 

Coca-Cola Enterprises

Connecticut Fund for the Environment

Disney

ESPN

Dow Chemical

FedEx

General Electric

IBM

Ingersoll-Rand

Johnson & Johnson

Motorola

Naya Waters

Nestle Waters

Nokia

Procter & Gamble

Personal Care Products Council

SC Johnson

Scotts Miracle-Gro

The Nature Conservancy

Timex

Unilever

Walmart

Waste Management

Yale University

 Xerox