Regulations review panel approves release‑based cleanup rules after years of stakeholder work

The Legislative Regulations Review Committee voted April 22 to approve proposed regulation 2025-014a from the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) on release‑based cleanup regulations, accepting the LCO recommendation of approval in whole with technical corrections while deleting technical correction number 11.

The vote follows a years‑long stakeholder process and a recent working‑group effort to update Connecticut’s cleanup framework. Senator Hartley, who led much of the work, described the regulation as "a storied regulation that appears before us and has a long history," and said the package is the result of extensive public hearings, white papers and joint committee work going back to earlier iterations of the initiative.

Senator Hartley told the committee that the process included a working group beginning in 2020, broad stakeholder engagement and significant public comment. "We went through extensive public hearings, series of white papers, joint public hearings with the environment and the commerce committee," Hartley said. Hartley said the effort was intended to balance human health, environmental protection and economic redevelopment and to bring Connecticut into alignment with practices already adopted by most other states.

The senator identified companion legislation that will accompany the regulation package. "We will have two companion pieces of legislation. Colleagues, one will be a senate bill that's 14‑04 and then there will also be a house bill," Hartley said (transcript wording as spoken at the meeting).

Committee members including Senator Kissel and Representative Carpino praised the work of DEEP, the Department of Economic and Community Development and the Legislative Commissioners' Office (LCO). Carpino thanked agency staff and advocates "who stuck with us during the process," calling the regulation a “path forward” for redeveloping polluted sites into productive uses.

The committee’s motion — to accept the LCO recommendation of approval in whole with the noted technical corrections, with deletion of technical correction number 11 — was moved and seconded on the record and carried on a roll‑call vote recorded by the administrator.

The action advances the regulatory framework DEEP presented for release‑based cleanup and is accompanied, according to statements in the meeting, by legislative conforming language to be filed in both chambers to monitor and refine implementation.

What happens next: the regulatory approval as recorded by the committee moves the regulation forward under the administrative review process and, per committee remarks, will be accompanied by ongoing working‑group monitoring and companion statutory language to address implementation issues as they arise.

Sources and attribution: committee proceedings April 22, 2025, Legislative Regulations Review Committee. Direct quotes and attributions are to Senator Hartley, Senator Kissel and Representative Carpino as recorded in the meeting transcript.