Residents raise concerns about firm conducting soil testing

After a lengthy process with DEP, Enbridge has been ordered to conduct soil testing at the proposed compressor station site due to existing contamination. We filed our initial request for an audit two years ago. Last week it was announced that Enbridge had missed their deadline to submit soil samples, so the deadline was extended to January 2020. One of our board members, Margaret, sent a letter to DEP, to request that the new sampling be down by a different firm. Enbridge has been working with TRC, which has been the source of many conflicts. Margaret is also the head of the group that initiated the clean-up effort with DEP — it’s known as the PIP (Public Involvement Plan). We thank Margaret for her tireless work on this issue.

We know the site is far, far more contaminated than TRC reported under LSP Kelly Race. Now we have an LSP who can't tell the difference between "historic fill" and industrially contaminated soil. Time for a new LSP, don't you think, Campers?

The Patriot Ledger - Residents want new firm for soil testing at Weymouth site

Excerpt: “Weymouth resident Margaret Bellafiore recently sent a letter to the state Department of Environmental Protection asking that officials assign an independent environmental consulting firm with no ties to Algonquin Gas Transmission, a subsidiary of Spectra Energy-Enbridge, to do additional testing ordered by the state. Bellafiore and other opponents of the project have argued that the company now doing the review, TRC Environmental Corporation, has ties both to state regulators and Algonquin.

Algonquin missed a July 19 deadline to provide environmental sampling and analysis related to hazardous waste cleanup on the site and is now under a consent decree with the state Department of Environmental Protection requiring it to provide the data by mid January.

Brian Ferrarese, chief of staff for the state Department of Environmental Protection, said in a notice that regulators extended the deadline because of the additional work needed to “fully and appropriately assess the site,” as well as the public involvement required during the process.

Bellafiore said residents are concerned about how the consent order will be implemented, particularly because the additional testing is now set to be conducted by TRC Environmental Corporation, a firm that former Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Matthew Beaton now works for.

“The close connection between Algonquin/Enbridge and TRC poses a problem for the (public involvement plan) participants and has from the very start of this process,” she wrote.

As part of a state-prescribed process, 16 residents signed a petition to the state requiring Algonquin to prepare a plan outlining how it will consider community concerns regarding hazardous materials at the site. The plan requires representatives from the company to hold public meetings. Bellafiore is one of the citizens who forced the public involvement plan.

Bellafiore said residents are also concerned about James Doherty, the licensed site professional working on the project. She said he previously testified on behalf of the gas company during an administrative appeals hearing.

At the urging of officials and residents, the state completed an audit of the cleanup of the site earlier this year and determined that the steps taken by Algonquin did not fully comply with the state’s hazardous waste cleanup regulations.” (The Patriot Ledger, 2019)