Not Another Power Plant v. Connecticut Siting Council

Citations

• 340 Conn. 762

Syllabus

Pursuant to statute (§ 16-50k (a)), ''no person shall . . . commence the construction or supplying of a facility . . . that may, as determined by the [Connecticut Siting] [C]ouncil, have a substantial adverse environ- mental effect in the state without having first obtained a certificate of environmental compatibility and public need . . . issued with respect to such facility or modification by the council.'' Pursuant further to statute (§ 16-50p (a) (3) (B)), ''[t]he council shall file, with its order, an opinion stating in full its reasons for the decision. The council shall not grant a certificate, either as proposed or as modified by the council, unless it shall find and determine . . . [t]he nature of the probable environmental impact of the facility alone and cumulatively with other facilities, including a specification of every significant adverse effect . . . .'' The plaintiff, a nonprofit association formed to promote environmental conservation in the town of Killingly, appealed to the trial court from the decision of the defendant council, which approved the application of the defendant energy company, N Co., for a certificate of environmental compatibility and public need in connection with an electric generating facility that N Co. sought to construct in the town. The plaintiff had intervened in the administrative proceeding pursuant to statute (§ 22a- 19 (a) (1)), claiming that approval of the facility would result in the unreasonable pollution and impairment of the public trust in the environ- ment. According to N Co.'s application, the facility would be supplied with natural gas by E Co., which owns a distribution pipeline that extends from a mainline to the site of the proposed facility. For the facility to function, however, E Co. would need to replace approximately two miles of its existing distribution pipeline with an upgraded pipeline that would cross or abut wetlands, a river, and certain preserved or undeveloped lands. The plaintiff moved to d