Iroqouis Gas Line Through Newtown, CT

While reviewing property appraisal records of the Sandy Hook victims, I noticed that there are many cases where “last sold date” is listed as 12/25/09 -  too many to be a coincidence.  I looked at the entries for these properties in more detail and none of them correlate with that date (12/25/09).  They have various sale dates listed but nothing on 12/25/09.

Here’s an example – 37 Yogananda St.

Here are the mortage documents for this address – nothing listed for 12/25/09.

While looking at areas near Sandy Hook school, I noticed that Treadwell Park is right behind it.  Look closely at the sign at the park:

It says “Iroquois Gas Transmission System”

While searching for information on the gas line, I came across an article from 1992.

In the Region: Connecticut and Westchester; Making the Iroquois Pipeline Palatable

By ELEANOR CHARLES
Published: May 24, 1992

 

THE Iroquois Gas Transmission System may have found an aspirin for the headaches its highway and corporate construction projects cause communities they intrude upon.

In an experiment that could become a model for the future, it has embarked on a $10 million program to compensate 60 New York State and Connecticut towns disrupted by the installation of its 370-mile-long natural gas pipeline. The money will pay for the purchase of open space and the enhancement of environmental and recreational facilities.

“Damage to the environment was the chief complaint we heard when the pipeline was proposed,” said Gary Davis, spokesman for Iroquois, “so we sought an environmental solution. As far as we know the natural gas industry has never done anything like this before, nor do I know of any other industry that has.”

The pipeline route, cutting a swath that varies from 30 to 70 feet in width, covers piping buried eight feet underground, through which Canadian gas is being transported to distributors. It begins in Waddington, N.Y., on the St. Lawrence River and ends at South Commack, L.I. No trees can be replanted along the path, but Iroquois is restoring the surface with grass and shrubs.

 

Announcement in 1986 of the taking of private property under a Federal mandate created a firestorm of protest in the affected towns. In Connecticut, residential communities beginning with Sherman at the crossover point from New York State, then winding through New Milford, Brookfield, Newtown, Monroe, Shelton and down to Milford on Long Island Sound, where the pipeline enters the water, objected to no avail.

In the end, Connecticut’s seven affected towns will acquire only 411 acres of a total of 3,440 acres in the two states, but the cost will be $4,427,000, or almost half the total.

The pipelines were installed.  From the company website.

Iroquois Announces 08/09 Expansion Phase 2 In-Service

January 14, 2009

SHELTON, Conn., Jan. 14 /PRNewswire/ — Iroquois Gas Transmission System, L.P. (“Iroquois”) announced today that its new Milford Compressor Station, located in Milford, CT, has been placed into service. The natural gas compression facility, consisting of two new 10,300 horsepower compressor units, was constructed as Phase 2 of its 08/09 Expansion Project.

 

Phase 1, a 1.6 mile pipeline loop in Newtown, CT, was placed into service November 14, 2008. Phase 3, construction of a second 10,300 horsepower compressor unit at Iroquois’ existing Brookfield Compressor Station in Brookfield, CT, is expected to begin early Spring 2009, with an in-service date of November 1, 2009.

 

The three-phased 08/09 Expansion Project will allow Iroquois to receive an additional 200 million cubic feet per day of natural gas at its interconnect with Algonquin Pipeline in Brookfield, CT and deliver the volumes to National Grid’s KeySpan system at South Commack, Long Island.  article

Image of the Newtown Corridor and proposed new loop that was completed in 2009:

From this newsletter, here are a couple of photos of the pipeline installations.  Also note that the newsletter is from Winter ’09 which would be consistent with the “last sold date” of 12/25/09.

Gas line on Google Map:

I looked at all the properties of the child victim’s homes since they all live in and around Sandy Hook.  I believe the adult victims are all from residing areas, outside of the Newtown area.

I mapped the school and all of the victim’s properties and compared it to the gas line loop just to see if there was any commonality.

As you can see, many of the homes are right near the gas line loop.  The bottom marker is actually Fan Hill Rd in Monroe.  I marked it just to see where it fell on the line since the new Sandy Hook school is supposedly there.

Many of the victim’s properties show that at least some of the homes were purchased by Iroquois Gas, the state of Connecticut and the town of Newtown.  This happens to be the street where the Pozner’s are supposed to live.

Another thing that’s very odd is that all of the streets in Sandy Hook appear to be privately owned.  You are not able to see them with Google Street View.  I can’t see any of the homes of victims and I looked around in the general area and none of the side streets can be viewed.

I looked at my own street in my subdivision and I could see it with street view.  The street behind me is private and sure enough, I couldn’t use Street view on it.

If you look at the victim’s properties on Spokeo, the majority of them don’t show up as a residence.  You can see a house but it isn’t highlighted as a residence with a list of names.

I also found a couple of websites that list Newtown schools but do not include Sandy Hook school.

Although I find all of this interesting, I’m not ready to jump to any conclusions about this because maybe there is a logical explanation.  I just don’t know what the real impact of the gas lines were to the community because there isn’t much information out there.  I do believe further investigation into the impact of the gas lines is something that should be pursued.  I would also be interested in understanding why the majority of roads in Sandy Hook are private, if not due to the gas line acquisitions.

Edited to add:  Here’s a link to the addresses highlighted on the map above.

Here’s a larger version of the map:

 

 

 

 

 

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