Community Orgs Ask DEEP to Stop Construction of New Fossil Fuel Power Plants

Hartford, CT -- Thirty-five Connecticut-based organizations delivered a letter today to Commissioner Katie Dykes of the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) urging her to stop the construction of a recently approved fracked gas power plant in Killingly and impose a moratorium on all new gas and oil infrastructure until DEEP develops a plan for energy development that is consistent with the state’s climate goals.

In April, DEEP submitted comments to the Connecticut Siting Council, endorsing the development of the facility and lauding its "low" greenhouse gas emission rate. In an about face, in response to protests about the plant outside DEEP last week, Dykes told the Hartford Courant that the strategy "is to ensure it runs as little as possible.” She told Fox61 that “when that offshore wind is built-in complement with all of the other zero carbon resources that we are deploying, it will squeeze out the need for this natural gas power plant.” 

In a joint letter, the organizations expressed concern about the process that led to the approval of the Killingly Energy Center and the impact it will have on Connecticut’s ability to achieve the required greenhouse gas reduction goals under the state’s Global Warming Solutions Act, a key component of Connecticut’s strategy to address climate change. The law requires a 45% reduction in greenhouse gases from 2001 levels by 2030, and by 2050, an 80% reduction. The Killingly Energy Center is permitted by DEEP to emit 2.2 million tons of carbon pollution into the atmosphere each year that it operates, and is the third new fracked gas power plant built in the state since 2018.

“To invest in more fossil fuel burning infrastructure now when climate change is at our doorstep and when energy efficiency and clean energy solutions are available is the wrong direction for the environment, public health, and for ratepayers,” Samantha Dynowski, State Director of Sierra Club Connecticut, said. “We can’t stand by and allow new fracked gas power plants that even the Commissioner says we don’t need. DEEP needs to put its money where its mouth is. Actions speak louder than words. All we've seen to date from DEEP is support for this project and rejection of proposed GHG emission limits.”

The letter also requests that DEEP submit to the legislature, as required by law, an Integrated Resource Plan to guide the state’s energy policy that will retire fossil fuel infrastructure and replace it with renewables in order to achieve the greenhouse gas emission reductions required by the Global Warming Solutions Act.