April 1, 2005 |
2005-R-0383 | |
QUESTIONS FOR CRRA AD HOC MEMBER NOMINEE | ||
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By: Paul Frisman, Associate Analyst | ||
Connecticut Resources Recovery Authority
• The Governor may appoint, at the request of a municipality where a facility operated by the authority is located, an ad hoc member from that municipality to represent that facility, provided at least half such members are chief elected officials of municipalities, or their designees. Each facility must be represented by two ad hoc members. Ad hoc members serve four-year terms, and may vote only on matters concerning the facility.
• The authority’s board of directors consists of 11 members appointed by the governor and legislative leaders. The governor appoints three members and the Senate president pro tempore, the House speaker, the Senate minority leader and House minority leader two each.
• Three directors must represent towns with a population of fewer than 50,000 and two must represent towns with populations greater than 50,000.
• Five members represent the public. Three of these must have extensive, high-level experience in finance, business or industry; one must have high-level, extensive experience in an environmental field and one must have high-level, extensive experience in an energy field.
• Directors serve four-year terms and must be confirmed by both houses. The governor designates one member to serve as chairman, with the advice and consent of both houses. The chairman serves at the governor’s pleasure.
• CRRA plans, designs, builds, and operates solid waste disposal, volume reduction, recycling, intermediate processing, and resources recovery facilities. The chairman appoints the president of the authority, who supervises the authority’s administrative affairs and technical activities. The authority is a quasi-public agency.
1. CRRA’s reputation has suffered in recent years because of criticism of the CRRA-Enron deal. Last month, the governor criticized the level of compensation at CRRA and other quasi-public agencies. What can CRRA do to restore public confidence?
2. Are there specific issues with the Mid-Connecticut project you would like CRRA to address?
3. CRRA has announced plans to close the Hartford landfill, but it disagrees with the city about who should bear the costs of closure and monitoring. Who do you think should pay and why?
4. CRRA’s main responsibilities include assistance and coordination of certain recycling efforts. Connecticut continues to fall short of its statewide 40% recycling goal. How can CRRA increase the rate of recycling?
5. Inner-city residents believe they have historically been overburdened by the siting of landfills and incinerators in their neighborhoods. What should CRRA do to alleviate this?
6. Under current law, unclaimed bottle deposits return to distributors. There have been many attempts to direct that money to the state instead. Where do you believe that money should go and how should it be distributed?
7. Do you favor expansion of the bottle bill to include bottled water and noncarbonated juice and sports drinks? Is curbside recycling reducing the amount of redeemed soft drink and beer bottles and cans? Should the state consider increasing the five-cent deposit?
8. CRRA has said it favors a statewide electronics recycling plant. How do you believe this should be financed? Would you favor a one-time advance recycling fee paid at the point of retail purchase, such as has been adopted in California?
PF: ts