TORRINGTON, CT O&G Industries, Connecticut's largest privately-held construction company, was awarded a 2017 Green Circle Sustainability award for Innovation by the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.  The award was presented at the Connecticut Business Summit held at the Connecticut Convention Center.

The award was presented for an O&G project at their quarry in New Milford, Connecticut, which involved construction of a new hibernaculum for bats that inhabit the area.  Built at least a decade ahead of its need, the new habitat is a 40-foot-long tunnel in the limestone, six feet high and seven feet wide that runs to an underground chamber 17 feet wide, 10 feet deep and 15 feet high.

Jenny Dickson who is Supervising Biologist in DEEP's Wildlife Division, says O&G has been doing a lot to protect the quarry's bat population. "It's a tremendous help for us and our conservation efforts for species that are declining as fast as our bats are to have a partner like O&G step up and help," she said. The new hibernaculum will exist in perpetuity - a fact that delights Dickson.