Connecticut is approaching a crisis point for electricity supply to our grid —expected as soon as 2030. Planned retirements of fossil fuel-burning generators along with an uptick in demand for electricity is expected to leave the region short in energy supply to meet the regional demand, making the need for renewable energy resources vital.

But if the renewable energy naysayers have their way, I am afraid that the pattern that we see too often will repeat itself — that existing fossil fuel generation will remain the path of least resistance and those who contribute least to the problems of air pollution and global warming will pay the most — both with their health and their lives. There is no time to waste. Connecticut must stay on the right track and invest in a clean and reliable energy future for all residents.

As a physician and former director of health for the city of Hartford, I saw firsthand the profound effect that air pollution had on the health of the residents of our state — particularly in densely-populated, highly vulnerable neighborhoods where power plants that burned fossil fuels were located.

The neighborhoods surrounding these facilities have some of the highest rates of asthma and respiratory disease in the state. The impact on communities is unmistakable, unfair and expensive.

We have been here before. In 1996, both the Connecticut Yankee and Millstone nuclear power plants shut down and Connecticut faced a statewide electrical power supply emergency. To fill the gap, the state moved quickly to bring back online old fossil fuel power plants in New Haven and Bridgeport. Worse, new fossil plants were built in Hartford and South Norwalk, and not to meet local demand but to provide power to wealthier communities that wanted the benefits of electricity but were unwilling to host these polluting power-generating facilities.

As a result, low-wealth communities and people of color were once again disproportionately exposed to fossil fuel emissions. These emissions are known to exacerbate asthma and other respiratory and heart disease conditions, yet these polluting facilities were being placed in densely populated areas near residents with the highest rates of these diseases.

Back then, I decided I could no longer witness these injustices and do nothing. I started organizing my community and launched Connecticut’s first environmental justice efforts in Hartford in 1997, and then statewide over the ensuing years. Today, I continue to support a new generation of environmental justice activists in Connecticut’s disadvantaged communities.

We are now facing a once-in-a-generation transformation in our energy sector, matching that of the invention of the automobile, the computer age or the introduction of electricity itself.

Electricity demand is expected to grow quickly as Connecticut homes adopt more electric heating, cooling and transportation (EVs), and as our technology advances. Already, the state is discussing ways to extend the life of our nuclear power plants. We must increase our electric supply while reducing our pollution and our greenhouse gases to meet this demand, while also advancing equity, improving public health and mitigating climate change.

Without investment in solar and offshore wind today, our solution to the looming 2030 energy crisis will be more of the same: burn even more oil, most likely in low wealth communities that are primarily populated by people of color. The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) is currently evaluating proposals for purchasing offshore wind power that will help address the gap between energy demand and supply and decrease our reliance on fossil fuel burning plants.

I urge DEEP to buy offshore wind in the current procurement. We know that offshore wind, like so many other things today, is more expensive than it used to be, but we also know that the cost of inaction today will be borne in the future by Connecticut’s low wealth communities and people of color.

We must learn from our previous mistakes. We cannot afford to wait.

Dr. Mark Mitchell is a public health physician and an Emeritus Professor of Climate Change, Energy & Environmental Health Equity at George Mason University. He also co-chairs the Connecticut Equity and Environmental Justice Advisory Council.