Heating oil and propane dealers protested at a public hearing March 19 in Hartford, Conn., against a tax proposed to fund some of the state’s efficiency projects, reported the Hartford Courant. The tax on heating oil and propane — 1.5 cents per gallon until July 2014, 2.5 cents per gallon until July 2015, and 3.5 cents per gallon on forward — would feed into a fund set aside for programs that audit and outfit homes to make them more energy efficient.

Two days later, the proposal died in committee when members declined to send it for a vote, the Hartford Courant reported. A committee co-chair encouraged the heating oil industry to support a voluntary contribution to create a conservation fund that the tax would have created.