CNG, SCG join EPA STAR program

East Hartford, CT, May 16, 2007 - Connecticut Natural Gas Corporation and The Southern Connecticut Gas Company, subsidiaries of Energy East Corporation (NYSE: EAS), have joined the Environmental Protection Agency's Natural Gas STAR Program. The program is a partnership between EPA and the natural gas and oil industry that encourages the voluntary implementation of cost-effective technologies and practices designed to improve operational efficiencies and reduce methane emissions. Methane is a primary component of natural gas and is also a greenhouse gas.

"The STAR program provides us with the opportunity to work with EPA and with peer companies to find and share solutions to environmental issues such as global warming," said Robert Allessio, President and Chief Executive Officer for CNG and SCG. "Our association with the STAR program will allow us to identify the best technologies and practices that can further reduce methane emissions and help us continue to analyze and develop low-carbon energy solutions."

Initiatives undertaken by EPA STAR program partners collectively reduced methane emissions by an estimated 74.6 billion cubic feet during Calendar Year 2005. Those emissions reductions were the equivalent of removing approximately 5.5 million cars from the road or planting 8.2 million acres of forest. Today, the U.S. natural gas and oil industry emits approximately six percent less methane than it did in 1990, largely because of partner-company proactive methane emission reductions in collaboration with the Natural Gas STAR program.

"The STAR program also provides an opportunity for CNG and SCG to further contribute to Energy East's commitment to building a framework for protecting the environment while creating the sustainable energy systems necessary for achieving economic growth," Mr. Allessio added. Energy East is one of a group of more than 85 companies and organizations from around the world who have endorsed The Path to Climate Sustainability: A Joint Statement by the Global Roundtable on Climate Change.

Contact:
Robert Brennan
Director, Public Affairs
Connecticut Natural Gas/Southern Conn. Gas
(203) 795-7739
rbrennan@soconngas.com