On Thursday, January 8, Connecticut DEEP held a public hearing to hear comments on its tentative determination to approve permits to double the Brookfield Compressor Station. Written comments are due on January 15. We need you to send in comments in opposition to this dangerous proposal. Here’s why and how to send in your comments to DEEP.

 

The Brookfield Compressor Station is on the Iroquois Gas pipeline that runs from tar sands fields in Canada, carrying gas through New York and Connecticut, terminating back into New York. The Compressor Station burns methane gas to operate turbines that compress the gas in the pipeline and keep it moving. None of the gas traveling through the pipeline is used by customers in Connecticut, all is sent to New York. 

 

Now, Iroquois Gas wants to move forward with an expansion that will double the number of compressor turbines at the Brookfield Compressor station from two to four. In doing so, it will add significant amounts of pollution that will harm the local air quality and the climate. The expansion will add 80,000 metric tons of carbon pollution per year, and 24.9 tons of NOx emissions. 

 

This pollution has far reaching impacts, but is especially dangerous for those within 1.8 miles of the compressor station, the distance that experts recommend for health and safety. The compressor station sits 1,900 feet from Whisconier Middle School where 790 students attend school, and 800 homes lie within one mile of the compressor station. 

 

DEEP has tentatively approved the permits, and they need to hear from everyone who opposes the approval of more dangerous health and climate harming pollution in our state. Send your comments by close of business on January 15th to DEEP.Adjudications@ct.gov. Include “Comments regarding the Iroquois Gas Transmission System Permit Applications” in the subject line and the body of your email. The following concerns about the compressor station can be used as a guide to draft your comments. You can include as many or as few of these concerns as you like, and we encourage you to also integrate your personal perspective and concerns into your testimony.

 

Reasons to Oppose Expansion of the Brookfield Compressor Station

 

Environmental Concerns

• Brookfield (and all of Fairfield County) is in a severe ozone nonattainment zone; this permit allows 24.9 tons per year of NOx emissions, just below the 25 ton threshold for a major source permit. 

• Providing for a healthy environment is part of DEEP’s mission. This permit exposes vulnerable populations to health harming pollution.

• DEEP is failing to follow best available technology (BACT) requirements to achieve lower emissions, even though it exists nearby. 

• DEEP must improve monitoring and enforcement.

• Additional greenhouse gas emissions from the facility — 80,000 metric tons of CO2e emissions per year — will impede DEEP’s mandate to achieve the state’s climate law requiring emission reductions.

 

Health and Safety Concerns

• This project will put added pressure on an aging pipeline that was built in blatant disregard for public safety.

• The compressor station sits <0.5 miles (≈1,900 ft) from Whisconier Middle School (790 students), despite expert guidance recommending ≥1.8 miles from occupied structures; 800 homes lie within 1 mile, and no indoor or outdoor air monitoring is in place.

• There is no blast barrier, and the current evacuation plan would require staff to move children across a major arterial road during an unpredictable, unmanned facility emergency—making safe, timely evacuation potentially impossible.

• The pipeline company–funded health assessment omitted key data and long-term health impacts, particularly for children, who are more vulnerable to fossil-fuel emissions; this permit would significantly increase risk at an already burdened school site.

 

Civic and Procedural Concerns

• Brookfield Deserves an Adjudicatory Hearing not just a Public Hearing.

• More than 200 residents and the bipartisan Board of Selectmen have formally opposed this expansion, yet the state continues to move forward without an adjudicatory hearing. 

• Multiple elected officials who represent Brookfield have publicly and unanimously opposed the project yet residents’ concerns are still not being meaningfully considered, raising serious questions about whether DEEP’s process is neutral or stacked in favor of Iroquois.

• All of the gas from this expansion would be sent to New York, where new gas hookups are banned, providing no benefit to Connecticut while Connecticut residents bear all of the health, safety, and environmental risks. This directly contradicts DEEP’s mandate to protect the environment and the environmental safety of Connecticut residents.

 

Thank you for your advocacy!

 

Samantha Dynowski is State Director of Sierra Club Connecticut.