Lamont’s Proposed Approval of Pipeline for Killingly Fracked Gas Plant is a Disaster for Connecticut’s Air, Water, and Future

Killingly, CT -- Today, the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP), tasked with protecting the state’s waterways and environment, issued a draft determination approving the water quality certification for a pipeline that would fuel the controversial Killingly fracked gas plant. The proposed 2.8 mile pipeline would tear through vital wetlands and streams, including a native brook trout stream, and would destroy habitat for state-listed endangered species including the Northern long-eared owl and American bittern. The pipeline would cross under the Quinebaug River, and through wetlands that DEEP is rehabilitating, to supply gas to the plant. 

Activists have implored Governor Lamont and his DEEP to prioritize environmental protection over new unnecessary gas power plants, raising significant wildlife and water quality concerns associated with the proposed pipeline. DEEP ignored documented evidence showing harm to endangered species that would be caused by the Killingly pipeline. The governor and DEEP can still reverse this decision. A public comment period lasting 30 days begins now. 

DEEP’s decision to allow the pipeline, and consequently the Killingly power plant, to move ahead is not the only example of unwarranted gas expansion in the state. Right now there are also ratepayer funded subsidies aiming to add 900 miles of new gas pipelines and infrastructure, connecting 300,000 future customers to fracked gas precisely when the state should be planning to transition customers off of gas instead.  DEEP also recently issued a proposed air permit approval for a new 375 MW gas-fired generator at the Middletown station power plant, greenlighting additional unnecessary fracked gas generation and associated greenhouse gas emissions.  Meanwhile, Governor Lamont continues to tout his commitment to fighting the climate crisis while this contradictory expansion of gas remains the policy and practice of the state. 

In a statement, Samantha Dynowski the Connecticut State Director for the Sierra Club said:

“While Governor Lamont and DEEP Commissioner Katie Dykes have been saying we don’t want or need more fossil fuel generation, DEEP has given the go-ahead to this dirty, dangerous, and destructive fracked gas plant every step of the way. Connecticut residents expect more than lip service, but that’s all we’re getting from Gov. Lamont on this issue.”

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