Lot's of important events coming up this month, so mark your calendars!
Tuesday, January 12:
FRRACS meeting
Time: 7pm
Location: Tufts Library, Weymouth
Tuesday, January 26:
Health Effects Discussion w/ Dr. Curt Nordgaard,
Time: 7pm
Location: Thomas Crane Public Library, Quincy
*watch this video for a sneak peak of his talk:
Wednesday, January 27:
Access Northeast Open House
Time: 5:30-7:30 PM
Location: Boston Marriott Quincy (1000 Marriott Dr., Quincy)
WEYMOUTH – The Texas company looking to build a natural gas compressor station in North Weymouth has been touting its commitment to meet all federal safety mandates for months. But a subsidiary company of Spectra Energy was fined twice by federal regulators in the past six years for failing to meet safety standards and other requirements at its facilities, including a gas-detecting alarm system that was improperly calibrated for more than a year at a Connecticut compressor station, records show.
Spectra says the violations were “primarily administrative in nature,” and were quickly fixed. But opponents of the proposal, including public officials and resident groups in Weymouth, Quincy and Braintree, say the fines bolster their case that the compressor station in a densely populated area near the Fore River would pose a safety and health hazard to residents, businesses and commuters.
Read MoreAn explosion at an Oasis Midstream Services, LLCcompressor station located north of Watford City on Highway 1806 on Wednesday, Dec. 23, not only set off an automatic 911 call, but is raising concerns from McKenzie County officials as to the proximity that many oilfield structures are being built in regards to residential homes.
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this changes everything
Great opportunity to enjoy a potluck dinner and see Naomi Klein's new film, This Changes Everything, in Cambridge on Sunday, January 10. Read below to find out more!
Join Massachusetts Peace Action, Earth Stewardship at First Church Cambridge, and our co-hosts for a screening and discussion of This Changes Everything, the new documentary based on the Naomi Klein book of the same name that weaves together threads of climate, racial and economic injustice and the movement of movements already rising for a new, non-extractive economy.
Co-Hosts include 350 Massachusetts, Grassroots International and Boston Downwinders. A representative from each co-host will facilitate discussions at a thematic table, to take the issues raised by the film into our work and lives.
Please register so we know you’re coming, and if possible make a donation! Pre-registration is NOT required, but will help us plan food and discussion. Renting the film cost us $232.
5:00 pm: Potluck and conversation in thematic tables 6:00 pm: Watch the film 7:30 pm: Small group discussions 8:30 pm: Close
Snow Date: January 24. If in doubt, call 617-354-2169.
About the Film
“This Changes Everything” presents seven powerful portraits of communities on the front lines of climate injustice, from Montana’s Powder River Basin to the Alberta Tar Sands, from the coast of South India to Beijing.
Interwoven with these stories of struggle is Naomi Klein’s narration, connecting the carbon in the air with the economic system that put it there. Throughout the film, Klein builds to her most controversial and exciting idea: that we can seize the existential crisis of climate change to transform our failed economic system into something radically better.
WEYMOUTH – They usually look like oversized storage sheds set back behind tall chain-link fences with a series of pipes coming in one side and out the other.
The gas-fired turbines inside operate 24 hours a day, 365 days a year to build up pressure inside underground natural gas pipelines, some stretching thousands of miles across the country, to keep the gas flowing through the line.
So-called compressor stations are situated along natural gas pipelines crisscrossing the country, though pinpointing the exact number of them is difficult. Now residents in Weymouth and Quincy are lining up in an effort to stop the newest one from being built next to the Fore River in an area crowded with close to 1,000 homes and a cluster of industrial operations.
Read MoreBREAKING NEWS: The Fore River Residents Against the Compressor Station has received the endorsement of the Mass Nurses Association, the largest union of registered nurses and health professionals in the state, and the third largest in the nation! Nurses are on the front lines of public health issues and the MNA is acknowledging the detrimental health effects of this proposed compressor station.
More updates to come.
Thank you, Mass Nurses, for your support!
From FANG (Fighting Against Natural Gas): BREAKING.
A top safety inspector and an electrical inspector who worked for Spectra Energy on the "AIM" pipeline project have come forward to FANG with damning information about the company. The information that the whistleblowers have shared is alarming.
Spectra Energy pressured inspectors to hide information from safety reports and circumvent rules while rushing to complete the "AIM" project at all costs. Workers suffered heat exhaustion and were pushed to work 70-80 hours a week while attempts to raise concerns were met with immediate retaliation. As one of the whistleblowers put it "We were told to shut the f*** up or quit".
A top safety inspector who oversaw construction at compressor stations told us that the situation is so toxic that if the company doesn't change their workplace culture, that the safety mishaps and continuous violations could lead to a catastrophic pipeline explosion.
All of this means that this weekend's mobilization in Burrillville is that much more important.
Join us on December 4-5th as we take action alongside the residents of Burrillville at the site of one of Spectra Energy's fracked-gas compressor stations that is currently under construction as part of the "AIM" Project.
FANG has been resisting Spectra's "AIM" project tirelessly for the past two years. But now it's time to #StopSpectra once and for all.
QUINCY – Quincy Mayor Thomas Koch announced Tuesday that the city has formally filed to become an intervening party in the regulatory process with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission – a five-member appointed board that makes the final ruling on interstate natural gas pipelines.
Read MoreLITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Federal inspectors found several violations during their most recent review of Spectra Energy’s Texas Eastern Transmission system, which includes the pipeline that burst last month in the Arkansas River.
Spectra Energy was cited during the 2011 inspection for three violations, including failure to inspect sections of pipe for corrosion, and was required to pay a civil penalty of $134,500, according to reports by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration.
The 24-inch pipeline ruptured May 31, and roughly 4 million cubic feet of natural gas flooded in the river.
Read MoreFrom Weymouth News - Wicked Local
Spectra Energy, a Houston based firm, hopes to build a large compressor station on a tiny strip of land in Weymouth near the Fore River Bridge. That compressor station, which would be pressurizing natural gas with over 10,000 horsepower, has been vehemently opposed by many in the North Weymouth community.
The reason why is simple. Compressor stations are noisy and dirty. They have the ability to lower the quality of life with foul smells and rumbling noises, especially in the case of an emergency shutdown. They are also dangerous.
Read MoreSource: Wicked Local – Weymouth
Residents and town officials have voiced concerns about Spectra Energy's plan to construct a compressor station in North Weymouth, but the opposition does not seem to be discouraging the Houston based firm from planning to increase the facility's horsepower from 7,500 to 10,900.
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The council on Monday approved a resolution proposed by District 1 Councilor Rebecca Haugh to request the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to relocate the proposed compressor station to a more rural and less densely populated area than the North Weymouth site.
Read MoreThe council Monday night unanimously approved a resolution opposing the proposed natural gas compressor station at the foot of the Fore River Bridge.
Read MoreThe Weymouth town council unanimously voted Monday night to send a resolution to local state and federal officials and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission or FERC, opposing Spectra Energy Algonquin Gases proposal to install a natural gas compressor, right next to the Fore River Bridge.
“We’re a very highly dense neighborhood, very highly populated and we already have a lot of industry there, so if an emergency were to occur, we would be in a very difficult situation if we had to shut down Route 3A.
Read MoreWEYMOUTH – Residents of Weymouth, Quincy and Braintree have packed public meetings to oppose a natural gas compressor station planned for North Weymouth.
Weymouth’s mayor and town council have come out against it.
Read MoreThe state Energy Facilities Siting Board hosted a hearing Wednesday night at the Abigail Adams Middle School in Weymouth, regarding a proposal to build a natural gas compressor near the Fore River Bridge.
Weymouth Mayor Sue Kay said the neighborhood could be severely impacted in the event of an emergency at the compressor station
Read MoreFor more than three hours, speakers explained to representatives of a state board why they oppose a proposed natural gas compressor station near the foot of the Fore River Bridge in Weymouth.
Read MoreOpposition from residents against Spectra Energy’s proposal to construct a natural gas compressor station near the Fore River Bridge was strongly voiced to the Massachusetts Energy Facilities Siting Board during a public hearing Wednesday, May 27.
Read MoreA New York Times piece about the expanding body of science around the impact of air pollution on childhood development:
Air Pollution Takes Early Toll on Children
Read MoreI have lived in Weymouth, MA for most of my life. I grew up in the area and have fond memories of playing on the beach during the summer and eating seafood at local restaurants with my parents. It’s a densely populated area with mostly small businesses crowded along Route 3A which ferries people from the South Shore to Boston. The areas beyond 3A are mostly residential until you get to the next town square.
Having grown up here I thought I was always I knew what was happening in the area. So it came as a shock to me when I heard a Natural Gas Compressor station was being planned right next to the busy Fore River Bridge. Even more shocking is that I first heard about it not through the town or the company building it, Spectra Energy, but from a 350MA newsletter. So to learn more about this Compressor station I went to Spectra’s Open House for Weymouth residents on March 19th.
Read MoreLocal opposition to the proposed Natural Gas Compressor Station abutting a dense residential community
Every contribution helps us bring attention to this dangerous Compressor Station.
www.NoCompressor.com is maintained by Fore River Residents Against the Compressor Station.
Email: nocompressor@gmail.com
