Dunn still anticipates that DEEP will approve compressor station expansion

By Scott Benjamin

BROOKFIELD – First Selectman Steve Dunn had an audience recently in a domed building with someone who belongs to an honor society that just has 89 members over centuries and who has a land preserve in his name in neighboring Bridgewater.

However, Dunn and Gov. Ned Lamont (D-Greenwich), who has owned land in Bridgewater since 2005, did not discuss how the late Pulitzer Prize-winner Teddy White once wrote that when you travel down the steep hill on Route 133 and cross the bridge between Brookfield and Bridgewater you are not only entering a different county, but it seems you are entering a different state.

Their dialogue focused on the proposed $272 million expansion that would double the size of the Iroquois Natural Gas plant near Brookfield's High Meadow Lane and the need to install electric turbines, which are more expensive, instead of gas-fired models, which reportedly create air quality hazards.

CT Mirror Energy and Environment reporter John Moritz has stated that Iroquois had indicated the electric turbines would add at least $45 million in costs to the project.

The compressor station, which was initially proposed in 2001 and has been in operation for about 17 years, adjoins a neighborhood and is just 1,900 feet from Whisconier Middle School.

Resident Kerry Swift said during public comment at the May 4 Board of Selectmen’s meeting, “This is going to cost us in heart attacks, children’s asthma.”

Dunn, selectmen Karl Hinger and Bob Belden and state Senate Republican Leader Stephen Harding (R-30) of Brookfield, were among those testifying against the project this winter during a state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) public hearing.

Dunn said recently that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has approved the expansion. The only approval still needed is from DEEP on the air quality.

The first selectman, a Democrat, has indicated that he had to stand in line to enter the governor’s appointment calendar.

In an April 2 interview with Patch.com he remarked, “I am disappointed that the governor doesn’t believe it’s important enough to even indicate acknowledgement or receipt of those letters. In this instance we’re not getting the support that we think we need and deserve. But [overall], he has done a good job” as governor.

Patch.com forwarded Dunn’s comments to Lamont’s campaign office on Tuesday, April 14.

Upon referral, Will Healey, the director of communications at DEEP, wrote in an e-mail statement that the department received public comments from the January 8 public hearing and written correspondence through January 15.

He added, “Through that process, DEEP received hundreds of comments. Since then, DEEP staff have been reviewing and formulating written responses to all relevant comments. We expect to issue that comment response on May 15th.”

A state judge has dismissed a lawsuit attempting to stop the project.

In response to a text message from Cathryn Vaulman, Lamont’s communications director, Patch.com spoke with her by phone on April 17, and she indicated that Matt Brokman, the governor’s chief of staff, had spoken a day earlier by phone with Dunn.

Four days after the phone conversation with Brokman, Dunn was meeting with Lamont in the coveted second floor office at the State Capitol.

Mortiz stated that as Dunn left the meeting, “he told the Connecticut Mirror that he’d been encouraged by the conversation, in which he said the governor expressed support for an alternative Dunn favors — using electric compressors rather than gas-powered turbines to pump the additional gas.”

Moritz added that, “Dunn clarified that the governor hadn’t pledged to take any specific actions, for or against the project.

Mortiz stated, “Emerging from his office a short while later, Lamont offered praise for the “constructive alternative” presented by Dunn. However, he said he didn’t plan on discussing the project with DEEP Commissioner Katie Dykes.”

“He’s come up with an alternative and I hope, you know, DEEP considers it,” Lamont said. “But I’m not supposed to weigh in, so I won’t.”

Mortiz reported that, “In a prepared statement, Vaulman wrote, “Governor Lamont had a productive meeting with First Selectman Steve Dunn today regarding the Iroquois Natural Gas Compressor station. “The Governor listened to the concerns Brookfield residents have about the project, and he encourages the Iroquois Gas Transmission System to use the best available technology at this station and commission an air quality test as an olive branch to the town.”

Patch.com left a voice-mail message on May 5 at Iroquois’ public relations office seeking comment. Apparently, there was no response.

In an interview with Patch.com following the May 4 Board of Selectmen’s meeting, Dunn said he expects that DEEP will approve Iroquois application by this summer.

He told Patch.com months ago that appealing decisions by FERC and DEEP would be expensive for the town since, among other things, it would require hiring outside legal counsels in Connecticut and Washington.

About 20 years ago, municipal officials opted not to appeal the decisions that cleared the way for Iroquois to build the plant near High Meadow Lane.

But since DEEP still hasn’t rendered a decision, Dunn added that at least for now, “We’re going to continue working on all angles we can and get the results we want.”