New York Gov. David Paterson rejected Wednesday night the Broadwater project, a controversial liquefied-natural-gas terminal that Broadwater Energy sought to build in the Long Island Sound, the New Haven Register reported on Thursday.

Many Connecticut state officials, such as Gov. M. Jodi Rell, oppose the project because of the potential environmental repercussions. Yesterday, Rell also publicly endorsed federal legislation stripping the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission of the ability to singularly approve the construction of terminals such as that proposed by the Broadwater project.

The Broadwater terminal is among 23 liquefied-natural-gas-terminals that the FERC has recently approved for placement throughout the country. A barge-like site that would convert liquefied gas into oil, Broadwater would have provided energy to both Connecticut and New York. But, since it would have sat in a section of the Long Island Sound considered to be New York waters — by distance, it would have been about 1 mile closer to New York than to Connecticut — New York had sole power to decide whether the project would go forward.

Attorney General Richard Blumenthal told the Register that the rejection is “a huge and historic victory for both sides of the Sound.”

“I can tell you that this plan has been rejected on solid coastal zone criteria that will be upheld if they are challenged, and this decision is on very solid legal ground,” Blumenthal told the Register.

Paterson is expected to officially declare his decision at 2 p.m. today, near the Long Island Sound.

— Samuel Breidbart contributed reporting.