The Connecticut Energy Marketers Association is a trade group representing about 600 heating oil and propane dealers. In a complaint, it alleges the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection didn't adequately assess the environmental impact of Governor Dannel Malloy's Comprehensive Energy Strategy, which plans to add 900 miles of natural gas pipelines in the state.
"Any person on the street would agree, 900 miles of new lines -- crisscrossing our front yards, our streets, and state forests -- there should be a determination on what damage that's going to do," said Chris Herb, CEMA's president. "So when they actually do it, it's done in the most environmentally responsible way possible."
Connecticut's Environmental Policy Act requires state agencies file a written report if a proposed plan or action could have an adverse effect on the environment. But pinpointing the threshold for when such a report, called an "impact evaluation," should be filed, is tricky.
DEEP says the state's expansion plan wasn't enough to trigger a written assessment. "They obviously have their opinion on this matter -- the oil dealers," said DEEP Spokesperson Dennis Schain. "We believe it's a position based on self-serving interests to try to protect their position in the marketplace."
Schain said it's the utilities, not the state, that are carrying out the expansion. "It's important to note that at some point, part of the expansion could be a significant enough project that it would require environmental reviews," he said. "Some of the major pipeline projects, transmission lines for instance, do get reviewed under the national environmental protection act."
Chris Herb said it's all evidence state energy policy is biased to favor natural gas and to hurt oil providers. CEMA's lawsuit also alleges the DEEP neglected to quantify things like potential increases in methane emissions to advance their energy policy.
The complaint was filed Friday in Hartford Superior Court.
