Coastal Carriers owner John Pruchnicki speaks at a Connecticut Senate Republican press conference in Ansonia April 1.
ANSONIA – John Pruchnicki, the owner of Ansonia-based oil deliverer Coastal Carriers, says his business is struggling in Connecticut.
“It would be great to have an opportunity to sit down with leaders in our state legislature and discuss things with them and let them know how we’re struggling,” Pruchnicki said. “And it seems to be difficult in the last few years to do that.”
Pruchnicki’s comments came as part of a press conference held by the Connecticut Republican Party April 1 in the Coastal Carriers parking lot on Riverside Drive. Speakers included Ansonia Mayor David Cassetti and state Sens. Ryan Fazio and Stephen Harding.
The press conference focused on what state Republicans have called a “cost-of-living crisis” in Connecticut. Topics included rising utility costs, business regulations, and the state budget’s fiscal guardrails.
Pruchnicki, who said his business employs about 60 people, said he’s had to pass on costs from the state to his customers. He called out the state’s highway use fee, which requires heavy trucks to pay to travel on Connecticut’s highways.
“We’re a local business. We pay it, we pass it on to our customers,” Pruchnicki said. “When we deliver gas to our gas stations, when we deliver oil to our oil customers, that gets passed down. It’s a tax.”
He also said his business has had to pay more to meet state emissions regulations. He said restrictions on his trucks require him to put more trucks on the road, increasing emissions.
“At the end of the day it actually causes us to put more trucks out on the road, because we have to make more deliveries to deliver the same amount of product,” Pruchnicki said.
Sen. Fazio, whose district includes Greenwich, New Canaan and Stamford, said the cost of living has skyrocketed under state Democratic leadership.
“We’re here today because every single one of us in the Senate has been hearing from our constituents for years now, crying for help that the cost of living is too high in the state, that their tax burden is too high, that economic opportunity is meager, and that they need relief,” Fazio said.
He said state Senate Republicans want to lower taxes and utility costs by eliminating the “public benefits” portion of electric bills, which fund a variety of programs throughout the state.
He also accused state Democratic leaders of abandoning their fiscal guardrails and of spending beyond the state’s means.
The Valley Indy interviewed local politicians about the cost-of-living and energy crises last year, during the state race for House District 104. You can read more here.
State Rep. Kara Rochelle, a Democrat whose district includes Ansonia, said in 2024 that eliminating the public benefits charge is a “gimmick” that wouldn’t meaningfully lower rates. She said the state should instead investigate high salaries for CEOs and a nuclear power deal that raised rates.
Sen. Harding, who is the Republican Senate Minority Leader and whose district includes Brookfield, Litchfield, and Canaan, said state spending is out of control.
“In my time in the (Capitol) building, we ran deficits. When I got elected as a state Rep. back in 2015, we ran deficits because the revenues coming in were lower than projected. This is the first time in my career in the legislature where we’re running deficits because we’re spending too much money,” Harding said.
The press conference comes as the state legislature is in talks with Gov. Ned Lamont to pass a budget. The Connecticut Conference of Municipalities, a lobbying group for towns and cities in the state, has accused Gov. Lamont of keeping the state financially solvent by passing costs down to the city level, according to reporting by The CT Mirror.
The state legislative session runs until June 4.
For his part, Coastal Carriers owner Pruchnicki said he’ll talk to anyone at the state level – he just wants costs to come down.
“We’re willing to talk to Democratic leaders, Republican leaders,” Pruchnicki said.
