A new boat designed to trawl the Long Island Sound and pump sewage from other boats has launched from a Connecticut harbor. But it’s the first of its kind to run on solar power.
Rob Klee with the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection says the solar-powered boat joins 23 gasoline-operated boats of the same kind that the state already has in service.
“It protects environmental quality of Long Island Sound, and this is one of our most treasured resources in Connecticut. But you could just have a regular old pump-out boat, and we wouldn’t frankly be here if it was just a regular pump-out boat. We’re powering this boat with a renewable resource, solar energy, which is really exciting.”
About three-quarters of the funding for the boat came from a federal grant administered through the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.
Michael Pascucilla with the East Shore District Health Department, who commissioned the boat, said, “This vessel does not only protect our marine recreational beaches and our commercial shellfish beds, but it also addresses the real issue of climate change that is impacting Connecticut’s coastal communities.”
