Bianca Sanchez, bianca.sanchez@sierraclub.org
BROOKFIELD, Conn. – Tonight, local residents and community activists attended an informational public hearing on the tentatively-approved Iroquois gas pipeline “Enhancement by Compression” project. Hearing attendees spoke out resoundingly against the project and the decision by Connecticut’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) to deny the Town of Brookfield’s and other groups’ request for an adjudicatory hearing.
If given final approval, the Brookfield “enhancement” project will expand pipeline-adjacent compressor stations, two compressors within 1,900 feet of the town’s Whisconier Middle School, and two in Athens and Dover, New York. Due to the health and safety risks, experts recommend compressors stay at least 1.8 miles away from occupied buildings. The proposed Brookfield expansion is located within a mile of 800 residential buildings, home to 2,000 residents.
Following DEEP’s tentative decision to approve the project’s permits in September, the Town of Brookfield, Save the Sound, and Stop the Brookfield Compressor Station requested an adjudicatory hearing. DEEP denied their request. Unlike today’s informational hearing, an adjudicatory hearing would allow for community members to ask direct questions of DEEP, the project approver, and the "Iroquois" Berkshire Hathaway and TC Energy, the project developer. DEEP’s denial of an adjudicatory hearing is now the subject of an appeal in Connecticut Superior Court.
“DEEP has cruelly denied Brookfield residents the opportunity to demand answers to serious questions addressing the compressor expansion's air quality and health impacts,” said Samantha Dynowski, Sierra Club Connecticut Chapter Director. “As it stands now, the Brookfield Compressor Station is already exposing vulnerable populations – our children, elders, and neighbors with respiratory conditions – to health-harming pollution. An informational hearing is not enough. The Brookfield community, in a unified voice, has overwhelmingly spoken out against this project. We will continue to do so as we await the Superior Court’s decision on an adjudicatory hearing.”
“Brookfield residents, especially those whose children will pass through Whisconier Middle School, are deeply concerned about the detrimental health effects plumes of pollution generated by two additional gas compressor stations will cause,” said Brookfield resident Kerry Swift. “We know this type of pollution has been proven to sicken people, especially children and the elderly. Connecticut DEEP needs to step up and do its job to protect area residents instead of protecting the profit margins of a large international gas company.”
“Connecticut is failing to attain federal Clean Air Act standards and is also alarmingly off-track from meeting our state’s climate targets,” said Brookfield resident Daniel Myers. “Approving the Brookfield Compressor Station Expansion without greater consideration threatens to worsen both public health and Connecticut’s progress towards addressing climate change.”
About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.