The Hartford Courant
By BRIAN DOWLING, bdowling@courant.com
HARTFORD — Energy and Environmental Commissioner Daniel C. Esty, the Yale University professor and environmental consultant hired in 2011 to lead a major state agency through a period of broad consolidation and planning, is leaving office in February.
Esty said he is resigning to resume his tenured position at Yale Law School in New Haven at this point because time is running out on his university-issued leave of absence.
Esty, 54, broke the news Wednesday in a meeting with staffers. His last day at the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection will be Feb. 3.
No replacement was immediately apparent, though the governor is expected to put forward a name soon for lawmakers to consider. Read more…
Maps
•79 Elm Street, Hartford, CT 06103, USA
No replacement was immediately apparent, though the governor is expected to put forward a name soon for lawmakers to consider.
——————————————————————————–
Sign Up For Traffic Text Alerts
——————————————————————————–
The understanding between Esty and Gov. Dannel P. Malloy was always that he would stay three years, Esty said. Leaving now rather than the end of his leave in March, lets him begin the Spring semester at Yale and the state go into the legislative session with the goal of confirming a new commissioner, he said.
“My sense was I wanted to do it in a way that the transition was smooth,” Esty said.
In the three years as commissioner, Esty said, Connecticut has a better footing on energy and the environment: The state has a strategic energy plan; its approaches to developing wind and solar resources are taking root, in many cases lowering costs; and getting a permit from the department has never been easier.