New Haven Register

Supermodel joins fight for alternative energy

By CHRISTOPHER HOFFMAN, Special to The Press May 28, 2003

HARTFORD -- Former supermodel and actress Christie Brinkley lent star power Tuesday to the fight to preserve two state funds that promote energy conservation and the development of alternative power.

"This fund is a model of state action that can act to protect us," said Brinkley, who lives on Long Island. "For the sake of our children, it must be preserved."

Brinkley and her husband, architect Peter Cook, want the funds saved because of their opposition to nuclear power. The couple works with Standing for the Truth About Radiation, which seeks the closure of area nuclear power plants, including Millstone in Waterford.

Legislative leaders and Gov. John G. Rowland want to use the approximately $100 million, funded through a charge on utility bills, to help plug the state’s yawning budget deficit.

Advocates for the funds predicted that getting rid of them would increase pollution, energy usage and power rates over the long term. Draining the funds would also hurt the state’s economy by hobbling its infant alternative energy industry, advocates said.

"Raiding these funds is a fraud to the people of Connecticut," said Donald L. Sosland, executive director of Environment Northeast. "It is anti-consumer, it is anti-clean air, it is anti-business."

Speakers also said that tapping the funds would turn them into unfair taxes.

Supporters of the funds, however, were unable to suggest an alternative source of money to help cover the projected $1 billion budget deficit next year.

State Rep. Jim O’Rourke, D-Cromwell, initially suggested that part of $250 million in federal assistance coming to the state could replace revenue from the funds. Rowland and legislative leaders, however, have already said they have other plans for those funds.

"I don’t have a final answer for that right now," said O’Rourke. "I’m hopeful that we’ll be able to make our voice heard in the budget negotiations."

State Rep. William R. Dyson, D-New Haven, the co-chairman of the legislature’s budget committee, said he also thinks that the funds should be preserved. Dyson asked, however, where else the state would get the funds to fill the budget hole.

"I agree with her (Brinkley) except I need a replacement if I don’t have that," Dyson said, as Brinkley and her husband waited to be introduced to the state House. "I got to get it from some place. If there’s another way I could get it, I’d be glad to do that."

State Rep. Patricia Widlitz, D-Guilford, co-chairwoman of the legislature’s Environment Committee, urged supporters of the funds not to give up.

"Time is of the essence, and this is an extremely important issue," Widlitz said.

Christopher Hoffman can be reached at (860) 524-0719, or choffman@nhregister.com.