Lamont Meets Brookfield Official Over Iroquois Pipeline Project

Ned Lamont met Monday with Brookfield First Selectman Steve Dunn at the state Capitol to discuss a natural gas expansion project that has drawn fierce opposition from residents and local officials at the edge of Fairfield County.

The meeting centered on the so-called “Enhancement by Compression” project, which would add two gas-fired compressors to an existing station in Brookfield. If approved, the compressors would push an additional 125 million cubic feet of natural gas through the Iroquois pipeline each day.

Dunn, a Democrat, has become one of the most visible local voices opposing the project. He left Monday’s meeting saying he was encouraged by the conversation and that Lamont expressed support for an alternative Dunn has been pushing: swapping out gas-powered turbines for electric compressors.

“He said he was going to help us, and I believe him,” Dunn said as he left the governor’s office.

Lamont, speaking separately after the meeting, praised what he called the “constructive alternative” Dunn brought to the table. But the governor drew a clear line around how far his involvement would go. He said he did not plan to discuss 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.”

The governor’s office later released a statement from spokesperson Cathryn Vaulman that struck a carefully measured tone. The statement said Lamont “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.” Dunn clarified that the governor had not pledged any specific action for or against the project.

Iroquois declined to comment on the meeting. The company has previously pushed back against calls to use electric turbines.

The project now sits in the hands of the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, which has been weighing whether to grant the necessary air quality permits. Last July, the agency issued draft decisions signaling its intention to approve them. DEEP had been expected to announce a final decision on April 13, but pushed that deadline back to allow more time to review public comments. No new deadline has been announced.

That delay has given Dunn and the coalition of local officials opposing the project more time to press their case, and Monday’s meeting at the Capitol was part of that effort. Critics of the project argue the compressors would pump harmful air pollutants into a region that already struggles to meet federal air quality standards. Environmental groups have framed the expansion as a step backward on climate commitments that Lamont and other state leaders have made publicly.

That tension was visible in how carefully the governor calibrated his words. Praising an alternative while declining to lobby his own DEEP commissioner is a narrower position than opponents of the project were hoping for. But Dunn said he took something real from the conversation.

The electric compressor alternative is not simply a rhetorical pivot. It would accomplish the same capacity increase Iroquois is seeking without burning fossil fuels to run the pumping equipment. Supporters of that approach say it would sharply reduce the emissions burden on Brookfield and the surrounding area. Iroquois has resisted the idea, though the company has not publicly detailed its objections in depth.

For Brookfield, a town of roughly 17,000 people straddling the Housatonic River valley in the northeastern corner of Fairfield County, the fight has become unusually high-profile. Local land use battles rarely reach a governor’s office. The fact that Dunn secured a face-to-face meeting with Lamont reflects both how organized the opposition has become and how politically charged the permit decision has grown.

DEEP has not signaled when it will issue its final ruling. Until it does, Dunn said he plans to keep making his case wherever he can get a hearing.