More than 20 climate activists gathered outside the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection’s headquarters in Hartford on Monday to protest natural gas expansion in Connecticut.
One of the protestors’ main objections was a proposal to expand a natural gas compressor station located near a middle school in Brookfield, Connecticut. DEEP is expected to issue a response to public comments about the station on Friday.
While natural gas is a relatively clean-burning fossil fuel, it is mainly composed of methane, a strong greenhouse gas and major contributor to global warming.
“I am extremely concerned about climate change and even more concerned that our Department of [Energy and] Environmental Protection doesn't seem to be concerned,” said Diane Jamieson, who participated in the protest.
Protestors staged a sit-in outside the department’s front lobby, demanding to speak to DEEP Commissioner Katie Dykes and leaving her voicemails. Security guards locked the front door and would not let protestors in.
“I’m shocked to be honest,” said Deirdre Dolan about what protestors said was a lack of response from the commissioner. “There’s nobody who can answer these questions better than Katie Dykes. She’s the person we pay to be in this job and yet she’s refusing to get back to us.”
A spokesperson for DEEP did not immediately return a request for comment to Monday’s protest.
In an email to Patch.com, Will Healey, director of communications at DEEP, said the department received hundreds of comments about the proposal to expand the natural gas compressor station in Brookfield. “DEEP staff have been reviewing and formulating written responses to all relevant comments. We expect to issue that comment response on May 15th,” Healey wrote.
What to know about the Brookfield Gas Compressor Station
The Brookfield Compressor station is one link in the Iroquois gas pipeline, which sends natural gas from Canada to New York. An expansion would allow the station to send more natural gas but would also increase its emission of air pollutants.
In a statement, state environmental officials acknowledged emissions “will increase slightly at the site” due to an expansion, but said that uptick “will be somewhat offset by increased control of leaks.” Fairfield County already has some of the highest levels of ozone pollution in New England.
Emissions from the station would not be subject to Connecticut’s greenhouse gas reduction goals since natural gas supplied by the project “will be consumed principally in New York State,” added DEEP spokesperson Bill Flood.
Connecticut Senate Minority Leader Stephen Harding, a Republican who represents Brookfield, spoke out against the potential expansion during a public hearing held by DEEP in January.
“This is being put up literally yards away from a school, a middle school, which my children are going to be attending,” Harding said. “This should not be approved in any circumstance.”
Áine Pennello is a Report for America corps member, covering the environment and climate change for Connecticut Public
