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Staffer Promoted To Lead Connecticut Energy, Environment Department

FAIRFIELD COUNTY, Conn. -- Robert Klee of New Haven will be as the new Commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, Governor Dannel P. Malloy announced.

Robert Klee is the new Commissioner of the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.

Robert Klee is the new Commissioner of the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.

Photo Credit: Yale University

Klee will succeed Commissioner Daniel C. Esty, who earlier this month announced his intention to return to Yale University after a three-year leave of absence from his tenured professorship there.

Klee currently serves as chief of staff at DEEP, a position he has held since April 2011. In that role, he has been responsible for supervising the operations of the agency while also serving as a key adviser to the commissioner and senior staff.

“Having served as chief of staff for the agency over the last three years, Rob certainly has a strong familiarity with the innovative programs recently put in place to address our long-standing environmental and energy challenges," said Malloy in a statement.

“I am honored to be nominated as Commissioner and it will be a privilege to serve the state of Connecticut in this capacity,” Klee said in a release. “Governor Malloy and Commissioner Esty have developed a forward-looking agenda for this agency that has made Connecticut a national leader in our approach to environmental and energy policy."

Before joining DEEP, Klee was an attorney with Wiggin and Dana in New Haven, where he specialized in appellate work as well as energy and environmental law.

He holds a law degree from Yale, a doctorate from Yale’s School of Forestry and Environmental Studies in industrial ecology and an undergraduate degree from Princeton in geology and environmental science.

Klee will assume the role on an acting basis beginning Monday, Feb. 3. His appointment must be confirmed by the General Assembly, which begins its 2014 regular session on Feb. 5.

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