Opponents of a proposed natural gas expansion project in the town of Brookfield filed a legal appeal on Wednesday to block the state’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection from issuing a final permit to the project’s developers, the Iroquois Gas Transmission System.
The move came in a lawsuit alleging procedural errors by DEEP regarding the type of hearing that was scheduled this week for opponents to raise concerns about the project.
It was also part of a larger campaign to stop Iroquois from expanding its existing compressor station in Brookfield, which will in turn allow the company to push more gas through its 414-mile pipeline. In July, DEEP issued draft permits indicating its support for the project.
In response to that decision, the town of Brookfield and the environmental group Save the Sound requested that DEEP hold an adjudicatory hearing that would give both parties an opportunity to challenge the permits under Connecticut’s Environmental Protection Act. Chiefly, they presented concerns that the new gas-fired compressors would release large amounts of pollutants and greenhouse gases, worsening local air quality.
While the agency did agree to hold an public informational hearing, DEEP rejected the request for a more robust adjudicatory hearing, citing issues with the town and Save the Sound’s applications. Without such a hearing, opponents argue, they will be left without means to appeal the agency’s final decision.
The public hearing is scheduled to take place virtually on Thursday evening, starting at 5 p.m.
“An informational public hearing is still important, and we still encourage everyone with concerns to show up,” said Jessica Roberts, an attorney for Save the Sound. “That being said, it does not provide the same rights that an adjudicatory hearing provides.”
While the lawsuit remains pending, the plaintiffs filed a motion on Wednesday for an injunction that would temporarily halt DEEP’s review of the permits for the new compressors. The New Britain Superior Court judge overseeing the case, Matthew Budzik, had not ruled on the motion as of Thursday morning.
A DEEP spokesman declined to comment directly on the group’s request for an injunction this week.
Following Thursday’s hearing, the agency will continue to accept written comments regarding the permits for the compressor station until Jan. 15, according to the spokesman, Bill Flood. After that, he said the agency will review all comments and make a final decision on whether to issue or revise the permits.
The Iroquois Pipeline runs from upstate New York, across Connecticut and Long Island Sound before terminating in New York City. The proposed expansion, which involves upgrades to several compressor stations, would increase the capacity of the pipeline by 8.3%, or 125 million cubic feet a day. The project does not involve adding new sections of pipeline.
Ruth Parkins, a spokeswoman for Iroquois, said DEEP’s review of the the Brookfield compressor station is the last major permitting hurdle before work can get underway on the $272 million project. The project has already received the necessary permits from New York and federal regulators, she said.
“We look forward to presenting the project at a public Informational Hearing that the DEEP has scheduled,” Parkins said in a statement. “This hearing, along with a public comment period that closes on January 15th, concludes the many opportunities that the public has had to provide comment on the project over the years.”
The project has elicited intense local opposition in Brookfield — where the compressor station is located less than half a mile from a local middle school — as well as from environmental advocates who argue that the expansion of natural gas infrastructure conflicts with Connecticut’s long-term pledge to lower greenhouse gas emissions.
Daniel Myers, a member of a local community group opposing the project, accused DEEP of hiding behind “procedural nonsense” to avoid public scrutiny of its permits. If the agency does decide to approve the project, he said it should require Iroquois to use electric compressors and other equipment that release fewer gasses into the air. (Myers’ group is not a party to the lawsuit brought by Brookfield and Save the Sound.)
“Our air quality in Fairfield County is some of the worst in the eastern seaboard, and [DEEP] has an obligation to avoid making it worse,” Myers said. “They’re permitting a thing that only makes it worse.”
In November, nine activists were arrested after staging a sit-down protest in Gov. Ned Lamont’s office, urging his administration to reject the permits for the project.
Lamont, while not weighing in directly on Iroquois’ proposal, has been generally supportive of expanding pipelines as a way of increasing the supply of natural gas flowing into New England and alleviating winter price spikes. The Iroquois pipeline is connected to another proposed project, the Constitution Pipeline, that would carry natural gas from Pennsylvania to upstate New York.