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Current Cases

CFE Defends Towns' Ability to Protect Drinking Water Supplies

CFE filed an amicus brief in the Connecticut Appellate Court as an intervening party, seeking to support a lower court ruling that limited density in the Saugatuck Drinking Water Watershed in Ridgefield.

Current Status: The Appellate Court found that the lower court appropriately considered protection of drinking water but remanded to determine the level of protection required. Read our Amicus Brief.

CFE/Save the Sound Opposes Sale of Plum Island in Long Island Sound

The federal government is taking steps toward selling Plum Island, 840 acres of gorgeous coastal habitat located off the eastern tip of Long Island. CFE/Save the Sound is working with a broad coalition of groups to stop the sale. Plum Island and adjacent Great Gull and Little Gull Islands were identified for protection by the Long Island Sound Stewardship Initiative as possessing "exemplary" ecological value.

Current Status: The fundamentally flawed Final Environmental Impact Statement was issued and the Record of Decision was entered in August 2013. In January of 2015, CFE/Save the Sound and Soundkeeper issued a 60-day notice letter to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the General Services Administration (GSA), informing the federal agencies that the organizations intend to file suit under the Endangered Species Act. The organizations allege that the agencies have failed to protect endangered and threatened species while pursuing a public sale of the federally-owned island.

Alongside our fellow members of the Preserve Plum Island Coalition, we continue to work toward policy and advocacy solutions that will permanently protect Plum Island's wildlife and natural resources.

Past Cases

Past Cases [top]

CFE Fights to Stop Plan to Develop The Preserve in Old Saybrook

CFE legally opposed and successfully blocked a plan to develop a pristine 1,000 acre coastal forest known as The Preserve with a golf course and a luxury housing subdivision. CFE won decisions blocking the development at the Old Saybrook Inland Wetlands Commission, in the Superior Court, and in the Appellate Court.

Trust for Public Land has reached a deal to purchase the site and CFE and Save the Sound Special Projects Coordinator Chris Cryder successfully worked to pass a referendum in Old Saybrook securing necessary funding. Old Saybrook voted on July 8, 2014 and Essex the following week. Read the Appellate Court Decision.

CFE Intervenes in Electric Utility Merger to Protect Open Space Parcels

CFE intervened before the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority in its review of a proposed merger between Northeast Utilities and Massachusetts-based NStar, seeking to protect 9,500 acres of valuable open space owned by Northeast Utilities.

Through its intervention, CFE sought to extend an existing Memorandum of Understanding between the state and Northeast Utilities with regard to the 9,500 acres of open space, which was slated to expire in 2014. The existing MOU was in place as a result of CFE's successful intervention in 2000 in which Northeast Utilities was proposing a merger with Consolidated Edison. The MOU established two valuable processes–the evaluation of Northeast Utilities open space land holdings for inclusion on a “Conservation List” and a first in time opportunity for the state, municipalities, or local land trusts to purchase properties on the Conservation List should Northeast Utilities decide to sell any of the listed properties.

Ultimately, the parties entered into a settlement agreement that was approved by the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority. As a result of CFE's intervention, the settlement agreement contained several provisions that CFE advocated for, including a ten year extension of the MOU. In addition, NU agreed to donate four parcels of land totaling approximately 1,000 acres to the state for permanent conservation. Read the petition.

CFE and Northwest Connecticut Coalition stop Golf Course at Pristine Yale Farm

In 2009, CFE challenged the state Department of Environmental Protection's tentative decision to grant a permit for a harmful and illegal diversion of water from the 324-acre Yale Farm property in order to turn it into a golf course. The Yale Farm property is considered some of the most valuable in the state. Both nearby Hollow Brook and Ginger Creek are Class A coldwater streams that contain vigorous populations of wild brook trout and other coldwater species. These streams are the headwaters to the Blackberry River, whose waters and tributaries form an important part of the Housatonic Watershed. Shortly after CFE intervened, the developer withdrew its application.

CFE Restores Low-Flow Streams in Northwest Connecticut

CFE intervened in a case to restore low-flow streams in the Torrington Water Company water basin. CFE argued that the company should not be allowed to increase its out-of-basin water sales until it addressed the problem of low-flow streams within the basin.

DEP and the water company agreed that the company will not increase the amount of water it was diverting and selling outside of the water basin, and will monitor stream flow and fund a study to determine how to restore the impaired streams within the water basin to a healthy flow.

In another stream flow case, CFE challenged a general permit streamlining measure by DEP that would have allowed certain water diversions to take place without any required review or oversight by DEP. The agency ultimately agreed to review and approve applications before withdrawals can take place.