CT residents raise questions on plan to run gas line under high school

HARTFORD — There’s a plan to run a natural gas line under Weaver High School and city residents have raised questions about transparency, safety and community notifications about the project.

Members of the Weaver High School’s Parent Teacher Organization, Blue Hills residents, and neighborhood organizations said they question the proposal by the the University of Hartford, Connecticut Natural Gas Company, and Doosan Fuel Cell Co. to run the gas line under the school.

The proposal has been pending since 2022 and it awaits a decision by the Inland Wetlands & Watercourses Commission on a necessary permit.

At a recent meeting on the project, which included The Blue Hills Civic Association and the Weaver High School Parent Teacher Organization, parents and residents broached concerns to representatives from the three companies.

According to information presented, the Hartford City Council in September 2022 approved an easement to allow Connecticut Natural Gas to extend an existing pipeline on the Weaver High School property, which provides gas service to the school building. The existing pipeline also runs through the adjacent neighborhood to provide service to homes, according to the presentation.

The presentation also noted that the proposed pipeline extension will be 6-inches in diameter, buried in a trench 2.5 feet deep, and will run west from the existing pipeline for about 100 to 200 feet, under the railroad line, which borders the school property. The pipeline would be tunneled under the north branch of the Park River to property at the University of Hartford. The pipe would convey gas to power a 1.84 MW fuel cell for electricity generation at the university, according to the presentation.

The proposal was first introduced in March 2022 and received a public hearing on April 18, 2022. It received a review by the city’s Planning and Zoning Commission and there was a presentation on the proposed easement by the city Department of Public Works at the June 8, 2022 meeting of the City Council’s Public Works, Parks, Recreation and Environment Committee.

Residents speak out

Environmental and civil rights Attorney Cynthia Jennings questioned the benefits and risks of the project.

University of Hartford Associate Vice President for Capital Planning & Management for Facilities Chris Dupuis said some of the benefits include the project being part of the state sustainability initiatives to have more green and clean energy by 2035, reducing strain on the electrical grid in Greater Hartford, and supporting campus sustainability initiatives.

“Having fuel cells on campus greatly reduces our carbon footprint, our air emissions, and long term, we could tie these into our micro grid system for emergency power to phase out the use of our diesel generators. They’re currently powering up our micro grid system. So those are some of the highlights of the general benefits of the community,” he said.

Victoria Fennell and other residents said they saw a lack of communication between the community and companies involved in the project.

CNG Senior Manager of Delivery and Programming Michael Borea said that any time they come into a neighborhood and do a replacement project, they send mailers with a phone number for residents who have questions. Some residents said they didn’t receive notifications or mailers about the project.

“I must say I have said I have seen CNG in the neighborhood, but I have not seen the mailers. So what I’ve seen is the trucks, the drilling, all that fun stuff, but not the actual fliers,” Fennell said.

Blue Hills Civic Association Project Coordinator Chareen LoveJoy agreed.

“There are many times when we do see your trucks and your workers out…We have not received any notification about the fact that you are going to be there or what you are working on. If you are sending out information to residents, telling them to call a number in many cases, they’re not going to do that. There should be something on there that says ‘we’re going to be in the area and this is what we are working on in the area’, so that people are better informed,” she said.

Health Equity and Environmental Justice Committee Chair Angela Harris noted the meeting only happened because to the Wetlands Commission asked for it before a decision is made.

“I have some concerns. When you mentioned that due to your regulatory requirements you are at this meeting, as good neighbors, University of Hartford should not require regulatory authorities to put you before the community that you sit right adjacent to,” she said.

She said she followed the process since learning of it last year in the City Council’s Public Works, Parks, Recreation and Environment Committee and does not see a true benefit to the community from the project.

“We raised questions then. And I still have some of the same questions now…I asked for safety records in one of my previous meetings, back when you were engaging with the Public Works, Parks, Recreation and Environment Committee,” she said. “The report that I received didn’t really address what I had asked. If there is a problem, who owns the problem? What’s the timeframe? And who pays for the damages not only to the environment, but to the residents’ properties, devaluation of properties. There’s a lot of things that go into this. The cost benefit analysis, I’m not seeing it.”

Borea said the analysis on the project showed the alternative route was cost prohibitive to be able to serve the university. He also said there will be no cost to residents.

Borea said the project is for the University of Hartford.

“I want to be very clear, the request was made from the University of Hartford to serve their fuel cell. So that’s what CNG is proposing to do, is to serve the university’s fuel cell. So I don’t want to conflate that we’re trying to sell something else, just want to be clear,” he said.

Dupuis said that while the benefit goes to the University of Hartford, there are ancillary benefits, and the city has two fuel cells he is aware of, and residents could ask for one to benefit Weaver.

Borea added that there are educational opportunities for Weaver High School students to learn about fuel cells.

“I know that… the university is very willing and open to have those discussions and use it as a learning platform for students. So again, there are some ancillary benefits,” he said.

Weaver High School vice principal and state Rep. Joshua Hall said they are hoping the work does not impact or take place during school operations and was told the goal is to complete it while school is out for the summer.

Blue Hills Civic Association’s Executive Director Vicki Gallon-Clark said she would like the organizations to provide information on their diversity initiatives as she was disappointed that there were no representatives of color at the meeting.

“The other thing is Chris, you have a huge opportunity, if you could take it back to the powers that be at the University of Hartford, to actually take it up with come with notches as far as your relationship with Weaver,” she said. “Because Weaver and University of Hartford have been sitting side by side for years. And I know…other institutions have adopted the schools that are right in their arena. And so there’s a lot of benefits for you all to do the same thing for Weaver. And so I would like to see something in writing (of) the University of Hartford’s game plan to do something proactively in that area.”

She said she also would like to see diversity in the workers who come into the community to complete projects.

Gallon-Clark addressed what residents said was lack of community outreach, as they had to spend time and resources to make sure that a meeting happened.

“I am very disappointed regarding the lack of outreach. Here, we are a small community-based organization that had to spend our time and our dollars to try to make sure that our committee meeting happened,” she said.

“When you meet with the various committees and subcommittees at the city government – that’s not representing the community. You need to come into the community and have a face-to-face dialogue with us,” she said.

Weaver High School Parent Teacher Organization President Beverly Hines extended an invitation to each of the vendors to attend the first PTO meeting of the new school year in September to share more about the project.

The vendors said they were willing to accept her invitation.