Gov. Ned Lamont met with the first selectman of Brookfield on Monday to discuss a controversial natural gas expansion project that has stirred deep opposition in the town at the edge of Fairfield County. First Selectman Steve Dunn, a Democrat, is part of a group of local officials leading the campaign against the “Enhancement by Compression” project, which would add a pair of gas-fired compressors to an existing station in Brookfield capable of pumping an additional 125 million cubic feet of gas through the Iroquois pipeline each day. Critics of the project say the new compressors would spew air-polluting emissions in a region that has notoriously struggled to meet federal air quality standards. And environmental groups say it represents a doubling down on fossil fuels that many leaders, including Lamont, have pledged to wean the state off of. Iroquois’ owners are currently awaiting a final decision from the state’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protect on the project’s air quality permits. Last July, the agency issued a pair of draft decisions signaling its intention to approve the permits. DEEP had been expected to announce a final decision on April 13, but that deadline was pushed back to allow the agency more time to review and respond to public comments. Dunn met with Lamont on Monday afternoon in the governor’s office at the state Capitol. As he 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. Dunn clarified that the governor hadn’t pledged to take any specific actions, for or against the project.

https://ctmirror.org/2026/04/21/iroquois-pipeline-brookfield-first-selectman-lamont-meeting/