Happy New Year with New Resolve

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Dear Friend of FRRACS,

The FRRACS Team wishes you a very Happy New Year and New Decade with renewed resolve to make 2020 the year that we send Enbridge packing back to Canada!

It may seem impossible right now.  But consider New York, New Jersey, West Virginia, and poor old Gov. Wolf in Pennsylvania.  And what do all of these things have in common?  Community activism pushed the states, the courts, and the FBI to do something about the corruption of the gas industry and their partners in crime at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).  

That's right, Fore River Campers, it's all about you.  With you and our many allies in the environmental community around the state, we have fought and kept Enbridge at bay for five long years.  We are now at critical mass, and we need you more than ever.  We need your voices, your spirit, and your sense of community to keep up the fight. “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.”--Margaret Meade

The battle is fierce.  Right now we are:

  • In Federal Court appealing the the Department of Environmental Protection's (DEP) abominable decision on the air quality permit.

  • In Superior Court appealing the DEP's abhorrent decision on the waterways permit.

  • Involved as a Limited Participant at the Department of Public Utilities with the National Grid contracts. (Remember, NG said they do NOT need the Weymouth compressor to fulfill gas deliveries to customers for the next 14 years?!?!)

  • Attending ISO-NE (Independent Service Operator--the Grid) meetings to see where the energy needs are coming from for the next decade. Hint:  Not from gas!

  • Targeting every state agency we can think of that has involvement in this situation.

  • Targeting Gov. Charlie Baker for his lack of leadership for the past five years on this issue.  It is clear that the Governor considers us his "sacrifice zone."  We will never let him forget his willingness to sacrifice our health, our safety, our environment, and our economy to the gas industry for a few lousy campaign donations.  Well, at last count about $112K in dirty gas money. He should be ashamed.

  • Preparing to look for other legal avenues to end this horror in our midst. 

  • Preparing for sustained non-violent civil actions against this Intruder. 

And why do we do all of this?  For our children.  For future generations that they might have the chance to live full lives on a planet not destroyed by the likes of companies like Enbridge. For all of us that we might learn to exist in a cleaner more equitable world.  “Very few people on earth ever get to say: "I am doing, right now, the most important thing I could possibly be  doing. If you'll join this fight that's what you'll get to say.”--Bill McKibben .  We--and that means YOU--are doing the work of a movement to save the earth with this one "small" fight. 

Let's begin this decade together in resolve to save the Fore River Basin, clean it up, and move forward to a healthier planet for every living being.  

In Solidarity,
The FRRACS Team

"It always seems impossible until it's done.” --Nelson Mandela