The youth-led climate group Sunrise CT staged a “die-in” at the state Capitol building in Hartford on Wednesday to protest the proposed Killingly power plant.
Mitchel Kvedar is with the group. He said the die-in symbolizes the harmful effects of climate change that young people and future generations will endure.
Kvedar said the proposed natural gas power plant would make impossible Connecticut’s goal of 100% decarbonization by 2040.
“A lot of the reason why we’re holding this protest is simply to demonstrate some of the hypocrisy of where the state is saying where we want to be headed. It simply doesn’t make sense to us and the future we want to see,” Kvedar said.
Seventeen-year-old Sena Wazer said the proposal threatens protected wetlands species and does not meet the energy needs of Connecticut.
“The Killingly power plant protesters and advocates have been protesting it for many years, at this point, and Governor Lamont and the Connecticut Department of Energy & Environmental Protection continue trying to build the plant. If built, Killingly would represent a really big step backwards for Connecticut and make it impossible to reach our greenhouse gas reduction targets.”
The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection approved a wetlands permit in December for the construction of the Killingly Energy Center, developed by Florida-based NTE Energy.
State regulators will accept public comments until January 21.