This story will be updated. Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Commissioner Katie Dykes will step down after nearly eight years as the head of the agency, she announced Friday. Dykes, who was appointed by Gov. Ned Lamont in 2019, said it was her decision to leave an d allow new leadership to take over. After spending some time with her family this summer, she said she plans to “explore new professional opportunities” in the state. DEEP Deputy Commissioner of Environmental Quality Emma Cimino will serve as the interim head of the agency starting in July, the governor’s office announced. “For many years, Katie has been a trusted advisor and an innovative, effective leader for DEEP, working tirelessly to secure clean, affordable energy, tackle our toughest pollution challenges, modernize environmental regulation, and invest in our parks and natural resources, all while building a capable team that will carry the department’s mission forward,” Lamont said in a statement Friday. He continued, “Deputy Commissioner Cimino is a skilled, experienced leader who knows DEEP well, and I appreciate her willingness to serve in this leadership position.” During her tenure, Dykes oversaw efforts to lower greenhouse gas emissions from power plants and vehicle exhaust, helped to negotiate a power purchase agreement with the owners of the Millstone Nuclear Power Plant and revamped an antiquated program for the cleanup of old industrial properties. She also navigated the agency’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which saw a surge in new visitors to state parks even as strict capacity limits were put in place. In an interview Friday, Dykes said her role at DEEP had been a “dream job” as the daughter of an environmental science teacher who grew up in West Virginia. “We’ve accomplished so much under Gov. Lamont’s leadership,” she said. “The governor is someone who’s been a strong supporter, both of affordable, clean, reliable energy, and of investing in the outdoors and environmental protection.” Dykes also said she believes it’s time for new leadership to take over, and that building a “strong team” of people around her at DEEP has been the biggest accomplishment of her tenure. “I think that it’s a good thing for DEEP, you know, to every now and then have the chance for new leadership to step up and to take the agency forward and into the next chapter, and so this feels like the right time for that transition to occur,” she said. Dykes’s tenure also saw its challenges, often involving efforts to get the state to commit to taking specific steps to meet its long-term targets for lowering greenhouse gas emissions. In 2021, Lamont was forced to pull back from a proposal to join a multistate initiative to cap emissions from motor vehicles after it faced heavy opposition from the fossil fuel industry. Later, in 2023, a bipartisan group of lawmakers helped to defeat an effort backed by DEEP to adopt a timeline to phase out the sale of new, gas-powered vehicles by 2035. Prior to serving as the commissioner of DEEP, Dykes was the chair of the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority and served as the deputy commissioner of DEEP’s Energy Division. ...read more read less