State House News Service - Compressor Opponents Gain Big New Ally: Mass Senate

Twenty-nine state senators sent a letter to Commissioner Suuberg and Governor Baker in an effort to put a stop to the compressor station proposal. You can read more about it here: State House News Service - COMPRESSOR OPPONENTS GAIN BIG NEW ALLY: MASS. SENATE

It is not possible for us to thank all of the Senators enough for this bipartisan effort to end this nightmare in our communities.

But remember, Campers, we are not alone in this fight. Others are facing compressors, expansions of compressors and metering and regulating stations, pipeline expansions, LNG storage facilities, and "biomass" electric power generators that will burn wood and garbage--making the Global Warming Solutions Act all but null and void. In the letter sent today to Commissioner Suuberg, this bipartisan group recognizes all of this.

Excerpt: “Nearly three-quarters of the Senate penned a letter Thursday urging the Department of Environmental Protection commissioner to rescind approval for a controversial natural gas compressor station in Weymouth, a significant escalation from what had been mostly staunch local opposition.

The two-and-a-half page letter, signed with bipartisan support by 29 of the Senate's 40 members, asks DEP Commissioner Martin Suuberg to reject the proposal. It was released one day before his final decision on whether to uphold an air quality permit under appeal is due.

Warning that "public trust is lost" after the lengthy permitting process that saw outcry from environmental and health experts, the senators said the compressor plans sought by Algonquin Gas Transmission are a threat "to the Commonwealth as a whole" and could set a "dangerous precedent" for siting such facilities.

"The administrative proceedings surrounding the Weymouth compressor station application are fraught with errors, inaccuracies, and obstructions," senators wrote. "Because of this, combined with the overall environmental and public health implications of the project, we believe that the DEP should rescind all permits pertaining to Algonquin's application predicated upon the many permitting appeals filed by citizen groups and affected municipalities, and reevaluate the proposal in light of the facts and in a publicly transparent fashion."

"As a Commonwealth, we should all be in approval before moving forward with something as precedent-setting as this," they continued.

Four of Weymouth Sen. Patrick O'Connor's five Republican colleagues — all except Sen. Ryan Fattman of Sutton — signed the letter, as did Sen. Anne Gobi, who chairs the Joint Committee on Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture, and Sen. Joanne Comerford, who co-chairs the Public Health Committee.” (State House News Service, 2019)