Environmental groups are appealing a U.S. District Court decision that said Connecticut did nothing wrong by taking $145 million from a renewable energy fund, which the state used to help balance the budget in 2017.
Environmental groups say the state raided two funds dedicated to programs like solar power and energy efficiency.
“I believe in all honesty that legislators were confused as to what it is they were raiding. I think that legislators were in a budget crunch at the time, and really it seems like a desperate situation,” said Leticia Colon de Mejias with the environmental group Efficiency for All, one of the plaintiffs in the suit.
“Judge Janet Hall read this very literally, based on the set of information in front of her but didn’t really look at the detailed information as to how these funds are transferred and what they’re meant to do.”
Colon wants the U.S. Court of Appeals to review the decision made by a New Haven judge last month. The judge said the 1998 law creating the energy fund didn’t stop the state from transferring money out of the account.
