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Daniel C. Esty

Daniel C. Esty

Former Commissioner of Energy and Environmental Protection of Connecticut

Sep 30, 2026

12:05
And so I think it's hard to extract, you know, one big note if you're covering it, because there's just like hundreds of things going on at any given time.
12:12
And I would say that you end up with a picture coming out of New York last week of other issues competing with climate change for attention and for space in the everyday family in Connecticut's interest in politics.
12:27
And in particular, I think there was a real recognition across those putting on these programs at Climate Week New York, that the average citizen across the country and across the state cares more about affordability.
12:38
They're really eager to make sure that while we address climate change, it does not result in big new costs on folks that are stretched already in their budgets.
12:46
But I do think what was interesting, and maybe this goes to Jake's point, that there are some underlying conversations that were really quite interesting and suggest change that might be helpful.
12:56
I think we are having a more serious conversation now, perhaps in the wake of the AI build-out, about the need for a different model for electric utilities.
13:06
We've had a 100-year-old model that I've been saying doesn't work since I was Connecticut's commissioner of the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.

14 MINS LATER

27:02
So then is there any kind of understanding or acknowledgement from the current administration that rolling back on some climate policies now would likely mean shifting the expenses over to health care, emergency response, some of those people that are going to have to deal with some of this later on? Frankie, this is Steve.

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