Prominent Yale environmentalist is tapped to lead proposed Department of Energy and Environmental Protection

Daniel C. Esty, a prominent environmentalist focused on corporate responsibility, is Gov. Dannel P. Malloy's pick to head the new Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.

Malloy announced the appointment, which is contingent on legislative approval of his consolidation plan, Thursday morning. Environmental groups hailed the naming of the Yale University professor, author and former adviser to the Obama presidential campaign, while reaction from energy businesses was more muted.

"Everything he has done really reflects that he gets the connection between environmental and energy goals," said Lori Brown, executive director of the Hartford-based, policy-lobbying nonprofit Connecticut League of Conservation Voters. "And he's well respected in environmental circles. He's got a tough job ahead of him, but we think it's very exciting."

The Connecticut Light & Power Co. is "ready to work with him" if lawmakers give the green light, spokesman Mitch Gross said, but Dominion, the owner of the Millstone Power Station, declined comment.

Esty said in a telephone interview that he has been a Malloy backer since the governor's first statewide campaign in 2006 and "offered to play a role" in the consolidation of state energy agencies under the reconstituted environmental protection department Malloy has proposed.

Formerly an administrator with the federal Environmental Protection Agency, Esty said he believes the change would bring "energy policy coherence" to a state lacking focus, and that consumer protection on energy pricing is as much a goal as environmental stewardship and corporate responsibility.

"I have long believed that you need to pursue the environment and energy agenda with an eye on how it can help everyday people and promote growth and jobs," he said.

Malloy said in a prepared statement that the challenge he has extended to Esty includes "the directive to better integrate and coordinate our state's energy and environmental policy in order to strengthen our ability to protect the environment; to clean, conserve and lower the cost of energy; and to set the table for rapid and responsible economic growth."

Esty is the Hillhouse Professor of Environmental Law and Policy at Yale University. His favorite course, co-taught with a former General Electric executive, focuses on "environmental management and strategic advantage, which is about ... how the business community has begun to take environment on as a part of strategy."

Esty is also the director of the Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy and the Center for Business and the Environment at Yale. He advised the Obama presidential campaign on energy and the environment, his resume states.

Co-authored with Andrew Winston, his book,"Green to Gold: How Smart Companies Use Environmental Strategy to Innovate, Create Value, and Build Competitive Advantage," argues that sustainability has become a critical part of corporate strategy.

In 2008 Esty appeared on "The Colbert Report" promoting the book's message. He holds a bachelor's degree from Harvard, a master's degree from Oxford and a law degree from Yale. He is also on the board of directors of the Connecticut Fund for the Environment. The group's executive director, Don Strait, said Esty has a rare combination of environmental and business expertise.

"The real focus he's had, including in the book, 'Green to Gold,' has been how businesses have been improving their environmental performance," Strait said. "He's a creative thinker and he has vast exposure to trends, ideas and what's effective. But he's also a realist and he's grounded in practical business realities."

Jessie Stratton, director of government relations for Environment Northeast, which has offices across the Northeast, including in Hartford, also thinks Esty is a good choice.

"We're never going to be able to achieve our environmental goals without some major changes in how we deal with energy production, particularly through efficiencies, not only with greenhouse gas emissions but also pollutants like nitrous oxide, sulfur dioxide and mercury," Stratton said. "Efficiency becomes the most cost-effective way to achieve your environmental requirements."

In the proposed consolidation, the state's energy policy would become centralized in the DEEP agency through the creation of two new bureaus: the Bureau of Energy Policy and Efficiency, responsible for developing and analyzing state energy policy, and the Bureau of Utilities Control, formed by transferring the Department of Public Utility Control.

p.daddona@theday.com