Marching to oppose a new gas pipeline in CT

On Sunday, November 7, at 1 p.m. I will march with fellow protestors] against a new proposed Eversource methane gas pipeline.

We will march from Hurd State Park in East Hampton, which would be impacted by the proposed pipeline, to the Eversource center in that town.

With this march, which will span seven miles and feature speakers and protesters from various groups throughout Connecticut, we hope to raise public awareness of this redundant pipeline that has been proposed and advanced without resident knowledge or support.

Concerned residents and local students as well as clean air and energy advocates submitted concerns to the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) when this pipeline was quietly proposed in early 2025, but there has been little public information since then. In addition to the scoping meeting and comment period, DEEP is conducting an Environmental Impact Evaluation, which has yet to be released.

Connecticut residents have come together against this proposed pipeline due to concerns for the physical environment it will cut through, the cost it will pass on to ratepayers, as well as the long-term climate impact of further methane reliance and the potential reasons for this expansion.

If built, the section of the Eversource Southeast Resilience Project (SERP) being protested will run under the Connecticut River and cut through several state parks. The proposed line would cut under the Connecticut Valley Railroad State Park Trail in Middletown, as well as the Hurd and George Seymour State Parks and Higganum Meadows Wildlife Management Area in Haddam and East Hampton.

The pipeline will be installed via horizontal directional drilling. When this same method was used under the Sakonnet River in Rhode Island, 50 gallons of toxic drilling fluid were spilled into the river, which is incredibly difficult to remove. There are critically important ecosystems and species both in the state parks and the river, and I am deeply concerned that they would be negatively impacted by this expansion.

Further, the cost of pipeline expansions are passed on to ratepayers; the primary way that utilities make money is through investing in big infrastructure upgrades and expansions and then receiving a return on those investments from ratepayers. A recent analysis found that gas customers in Connecticut pay more for pipes than they do for actual gas, and that the amount spent on pipes has significantly increased over the past 25 years. More gas expansion will only raise our rates further.

Finally, we have to question why Eversource wishes to expand their already strong gas pipeline network in Connecticut. There is no need and no demand from ratepayers for more fracked gas pipelines in Connecticut. Our state is awash in so much methane gas that we export 40 percent of power generated here to other states, to the enormous profit of energy companies. Since there is no outstanding need for redundant pipelines such as SERP, I am concerned that it may be constructed in anticipation of AI data centers, which bring their own slew of negative impacts on residents.

I have lived in Connecticut for nearly all my life. I am 23, and have always cared deeply about the environment, this state and its people. As a young person, I am certainly concerned about the state of the environment being left for current and future generations.

Methane gas is a much more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide and building a new pipeline for it worries me greatly. But my concern does not stem purely from a desire to preserve the environment and protect against climate change. The people of Connecticut deserve better. We have been sold a lie that natural gas is the cheapest, safest option for us, and our state has been locked into a reliance on this volatile gas to heat our homes and power our electricity. The only reason “natural” gas is framed as cheaper is because we ratepayers have already paid the bill on putting miles and miles of pipeline in the ground.

But here’s the catch: we will just have to keep on paying for it. And not just for the upkeep or expansion of this infrastructure, but we will also pay with our health.

If you share my concerns, I urge and invite you to walk with me on Sunday, November 7, at 1 p.m. And if you are a decision maker in Connecticut, I ask you to use your voice to stop the SERP pipeline and those like it.

Nick Hopkins lives in Enfield.