Connecticut working group weighs riparian buffer policy as DEEP flags staffing, training limits

A state working group on riparian buffers heard Thursday that the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection does not have extra staff to absorb broad, new responsibilities for establishing and enforcing riparian buffers along watercourses.

Brian Thompson, director of the Land and Water Resources Division at the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, told the panel that DEEP "does not have extra staff" and that many programs that touch watercourses are already operating "at maximum capacity." He said the agency implements permitting under the Inland Wetlands and Watercourses Act and Clean Water Act Section 401 water quality certification for private and infrastructure projects and often must coordinate with fisheries, wildlife and the Department of Transportation on impacts.

The exchange framed the meeting's core question: whether the state or local municipalities should carry new buffer responsibilities. Several working-group members said municipalities are already stretched and that any added duties should be matched with training and outside assistance rather than…