HARTFORD – U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy is convinced that Congress needs to move quickly to provide additional money for programs to help protect Long Island Sound's environment from the impacts of climate change.

"We don't have a lot of time to get to the funding levels necessary to protect the Sound," the Connecticut Democrat said Monday at a news conference at the Legislative Office Building, where he released his proposals to boost spending on coastal programs for the environment.

Murphy's plan calls for increasing overall federal funding for such programs by $139 million a year to $860 million annually. A few of those spending proposals are specific to Long Island Sound, but most involve national environmental and coastal projects that include marine scientific research, clean water grants, and fisheries management efforts. Long Island Sound programs would qualify for portions of those national spending increases.

"I think chances are relatively good to get some increases in these accounts," Murphy said of the prospects for winning approval of his funding proposals through a Republican-dominated Congress. He said one reason for that is that many of the spending increases he is pushing for involve nonpartisan programs.

He said his "aggressive plan" would boost federal spending for many of the coastal environmental and economic programs by 10 percent to 15 percent after years when there have been no increases in federal funding. Murphy is a member of the Senate's appropriations panel.

Rising sea levels, increasing acidification of ocean waters, and the likelihood of more and bigger hurricanes and other violent weather events are some of the climate-change-related concerns Murphy cited.

Environmentalists greeted Murphy's proposals with enthusiasm.

Curt Johnson, executive director of Save the Sound, agreed with Murphy that more federal funding is needed to deal with critical issues like nitrogen pollution in Long Island Sound and rising acid levels in ocean waters that could ruin Connecticut's shellfishing industry.

Securing additional federal funding for Long Island Sound programs is critical because Connecticut's state government isn't spending enough in that area, said Karl Wagener, executive director of the state's Council on Environmental Quality. He said state and federal planners have laid out "ambitious goals" for protecting the Sound.

"Without [additional] federal funding, I don't think Connecticut could meet its goals," Wagener said.

State lawmakers are struggling to deal with a projected budget deficit of nearly $1 billion, and activists are concerned that environmental programs are likely to be hit hard by state spending cuts.

One program Murphy has targeted for a spending increase involves coastal habitat management and restoration. Wagener said state money "is not going toward habitat preservation at this time. … Federal funds would be essential for that."

Ben Goetsch, operator of Briarpatch Enterprises, a Milford-based shellfishing company, praised Murphy's proposal for additional grants to research ocean acidification. Goetsch said the increasing levels of acid in the Sound could harm young clams and oysters and endanger a shellfishing industry he said has been "part of the fabric of Connecticut" for centuries.