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Attorney General Richard Blumenthal announced that the U.S. Supreme Court today killed the proposed Islander East natural gas pipeline by letting stand Connecticut’s denial of a key environmental permit.
Contact: Christopher Hoffman or Tara Stapleton 860-808-5324
The court today rejected Islander East’s request to hear an appeal of a lower court decision upholding the Department of Environmental Protection’s (DEP) denial of a water quality permit. Islander East has now exhausted its appeals of the denial, Blumenthal said. Because the pipeline cannot be built without the permit, it is officially dead, said Blumenthal, who fought the project for nearly a decade.
"This sweeping victory is the death knell for this hugely destructive project, dealing it the demise it so richly deserves,” Blumenthal said. “We fought long and hard to finally triumph over selfish corporate interests seeking to despoil Long Island Sound -- showing the strength of grass roots environmental activism. I thank the many groups and individuals who joined my office in this protracted and ultimately successful fight to protect fragile areas, including the Thimble Islands, from destruction. The DEP deserves great credit for standing fast.
"This immensely invasive, intrusive pipeline was worst place and worst case for Long Island Sound and its fragile environment. The U.S. Supreme Court rightly let stand a powerful Court of Appeals decision citing the environmental destruction certain to result from dredging, drilling, plowing and backfilling to lay this pipeline.
"Smashing through the Thimble Islands -- a unique national treasure -- would threaten an ecosystem teeming with unique shellfish, bird life and sea mammals. The entire area would be endangered and irreparably harmed by this monstrously destructive pipeline.
"If there is a need for such a pipeline, it should not be built in this place or with this design. Energy projects should be constructed where they cause the least environmental damage -- not the most, as Islander East would have done."
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