Letter to Governor Healey

On March 1, 2023, we delivered a letter to Governor Maura Healey on the last stop of our Toxic Tour. We shared with her our concerns and demands related to the compressor station. You can read the letter below:

March 1, 2023

The Honorable Governor Maura Healey

Dear Governor Healey,

We hope this letter finds you well. We are here today at the State House as part of our Toxic Tour. This tour seeks to highlight agencies, both public and private, that have assisted Enbridge in the construction and operation of the Weymouth compressor station.

As you know, the Fore River Residents Against the Compressor Station have been fighting the siting, construction, and operation of this toxic and potentially explosive station for eight full years. We are about to celebrate our 9th anniversary this month. In this rather epic battle, there have been many mistakes and oversights by the agencies whose charge is to protect the public, not the polluters. As such, we have requests to make of your administration and its agencies.

First, we are requesting that a full Environmental Impact Statement be completed. This study, that was a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission regulation, was never done. Instead, we received a cursory Environmental Assessment that the average fifth grader might have written. FRRACS fought FERC’s error in federal court, but sadly, the court sided with FERC’s mistake. Then Secretary Beaton also denied the MEPA review stating that it would be done with the advent of the Access Northeast—a project that was only in prefiling and was ended when Enbridge could find no customers for the expanded gas deliveries. The EIS would have recognized the ten other toxic industries in the Basin. The EIS would have forced Enbridge to do more environmental testing on the soil, water, and air quality in the Basin. The EIS would have forced Enbridge to take the Environmental Justice neighborhoods abutting the compressor in Quincy Point, Germantown, and East Braintree into consideration rather than simply stating that the compressor was on Weymouth land and, therefore, they did not need to consider these areas that are less than two tenths of a mile away.

Second, we would like your administration to oversee the Department of Environmental Protection’s newest Chapter 91 Waterways proceedings in regards to the Weymouth compressor station. In May of last year, the Superior Court struck down the permit. The permit was remanded back to the DEP. Adjudicator Jane Rothchild wrote a thoughtful and highly detailed position that, in fact, the DEP had erred in granting this permit. Then Commissioner Martin Suuberg made a stunning decision at that time. Rather than do what he had done for six years and rubber stamp Ms. Rothchild’s decision against us, he put off making a decision on her position for forty-five days and then pushed this back into the appeals process because—after six years and multiple hearings—he “didn’t have enough information.” Suuberg left his position in January having made no decision. The current officer, Salvatore Giorlandino, has written a one-page decision that the court was wrong. He also did not address any of Ms. Rothchild’s objections or any of her thoughtful decision. He claims that he was given this authority. We want to know by whom. We have filed to go back into appeals with the DEP, and we will likely end up in court, yet again, within the coming year or two. The behavior of the DEP under Governor Baker was simply to give industry whatever they wanted. We are hoping for much better from your administration.

Third, we require a new and legitimate Health Impact Assessment that considers safety and evacuation in the study. This was a glaring omission that was pointed out in the audit done on the MAPC’s 2019 HIA. If one is not safe in their home, one is not healthy.

Fourth, we are eagerly awaiting the appointment of a new DEP Commissioner. We are hoping that the candidates that you may be considering take the environment and environmental justice much more seriously than did their predecessor.

Fifth, we would like you, Ms. Melissa Hoffer, and Ms. Rebecca Tepper to visit with us in the Fore River Basin. We would like the opportunity to show you the area, and discuss the many issues that present themselves in an environmental justice population situated in the middle of multiple toxic industries. Looking at maps and pictures does not do this area justice. We are a welcoming group, we are able to have a large public meeting should you so choose, and we will put on the coffee! Barring this, we would like to set up a meeting with you at the State House in the very near future.

Thank you for taking our requests into consideration.

Best regards,

The FRRACS Team