Pipeline expansion would violate law and harm human health
On September 15, 2025, Save the Sound filed a request for an adjudicatory hearing and comments to challenge the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection’s (CT DEEP’s) Notice of Tentative Determination to approve permits for Iroquois Gas Transmission System, L.P.’s proposed expansion of its Brookfield Compressor Station.
Iroquois operates the Iroquois Pipeline, which runs from upstate New York through Connecticut and across Long Island Sound. It has proposed modifying its compressor stations along this pipeline to receive an additional 125 million cubic feet per day of natural gas as part of its Expansion by Compression (ExC) Project. The modifications to the Brookfield Compressor Station alone will emit an additional 80,000 metric tons of greenhouse gases, 24.5 tons of NOx, 6.8 tons of particulate matter, and 0.7 tons of hazardous air pollutants in Connecticut. These emissions will impede the state’s ability to meet the greenhouse gas emissions limits set by the Global Warming Solutions Act (GWSA) and also to reach attainment of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for ozone.
In July 2025, CT DEEP tentatively approved permits for the compressor station modifications. Save the Sound has requested an adjudicatory hearing on whether these modifications are likely to unreasonably pollute, impair, or destroy the public trust in the environment under section 22a-19 of the Connecticut General Statutes, arguing that they would violate the applicable environmental standards and threaten public health.
To add insult to injury, while the environmental and health burdens would be placed on Connecticut residents, the gas shipped via the Iroquois pipeline would all be sent to New York.
“Expanding the Brookfield Compressor Station to supply gas to New York places a heavy and needless burden on Connecticut residents, degrading their air quality and threatening their health and safety,” said Jessica Roberts, staff attorney at Save the Sound.
The GWSA’s next target requires Connecticut, not later than January 1, 2030, to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases to a level at least 45 percent below the level emitted in 2001. Meeting this limit requires the State to achieve an average reduction of 1.1 million metric tons of greenhouse gases each year between 2022 and 2030—a rate that Connecticut has never achieved.
On top of this, the Brookfield Compressor Station is in an area designated as in severe nonattainment for ozone, meaning that levels of ozone pollution already exceed those set by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to protect public health and the environment. When NOx is emitted and reacts with volatile organic compounds in the presence of sunlight, ground level ozone is formed. Thus, increasing the level of NOx in this area will set Connecticut further behind in attaining the NAAQS for ozone and will further jeopardize public health in this area.
Finally, the increased natural gas supply is not even needed for the New York market it is intended to serve. By the time the project would be constructed, natural gas demand in the area is expected to steadily decrease, making the increased environmental and health burdens largely unnecessary. (See Save the Sound’s 2024 comments to New York State.)
“CT DEEP must put Connecticut residents before the interests of giant energy corporations like those proposing to expand the Brookfield gas pipeline compressor station,” said Samantha Dynowski, state director of Sierra Club’s Connecticut Chapter. “There are already significant concerns about health, safety, pollution, air quality, and climate at this facility, making it critical to stop this proposal which will increase harmful pollution.”
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