Hey folks, we have some more news to share: the D.C. Circuit has denied our federal case against FERC . While not unexpected, we feel is it came much too soon to have been given proper consideration. We will post in more detail later, but wanted to keep you updated on the status of the appeal. You can read the decision here.

We have some Holiday Greetings from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to share with you. 

The Conditional Certificate of Convenience was granted to Enbridge in January of 2017.  It is due to expire less than one month from today.  So Enbridge got busy over the holidays and asked FERC for a 2-year extension. And FERC was all too eager to grant Enbridge their Christmas wish...actually taking about a half hour to rubber stamp the request. (See letters below).

We know that your inbox is full of fundraising appeals and we hate to add to your list of requests but we need your help. We recently found out that the DEP’s presiding officer ruled in favor of MassDEP and Spectra (Enbridge) in the first part of our Waterways appeal. Though we are disappointed by the decision, we are prepared to move forward with the rest of the appeal and, if necessary, to bring the DEP into Superior Court. Our attorneys feel that we have a very good case should the DEP fail us on this appeal. Can you donate $5, $10, $20 or $100 to help with legal costs?

The audio recording of today’s DC hearing is available online. We will have more updates about the hearing soon. As a reminder, this is for the appeal that we filed in February 2017 in regards to the conditional FERC certificate.

Action Item: Let the DEP know we need an Air Monitor! MassDEP is accepting comments on their Annual Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Network Plan before they submit it to EPA for review. Comments are due Friday, December 14. The draft plan is available here.

Use our form for a quick and easy way to submit comments: NoCompressor.com

The lawyers for Weymouth and the Coalition will argue on Friday in Weymouth v. FERC that FERC should never have approved the Atlantic Bridge project until all the MA permits and reviews were completed, in particular an MA Coastal Zone Management Agency (CZMA) consistency review, as well as issues of environmental justice, safety and climate change. The background for the climate change arguments are spelled out in a recent Friend of the Court brief by 6 AG's, including MA's Attorney General Maura Healey, in another case in NY state against FERC and Dominion. See attached amicus brief.

There will be a hearing tomorrow, Tuesday Dec. 4th, beginning at 1:00 PM in Room A-1 of the State House on House Bill 4975.  This bill will put pressure on National Grid to end the lockout and take public safety and their obligations to the unions seriously.  Be there if you can, but if not, please send a note to your legislator to support this bill.  Thank you for all that you do!

See below for Senator O’Connor’s letter to the Telecommunications Committee regarding this issue.

Well, it’s no surprise but it’s still alarming: nearly all pipeline blasts don’t receive penalties. More from E&E News.

Did you miss Thursday night’s Health Impact Assessment community meeting? Don’t fret! We have a full recording of the meeting on facebook.

Facebook video part 1

Facebook video part 2

FRRACS would like to sincerely thank all who came out on what became a snowy night for the public Health Impact Assessment meeting.

Jessica Trufant wrote a piece for the Ledger about the upcoming Health Impact Assessment (HIA) community meeting. You can read it here.

Good news! Looks like Access Northeast took another hit today! And, a shout out to all of our Fore River Fighters that we are keeping them at bay! Access Northeast is not permanently off the table but it’s certainly losing steam. Read more below.

Jay Gonzalez visited the proposed compressor site for the second time. We thank him for taking the time to visit the site and for listening to community member’s concerns about the compressor station. Maybe Gov. Baker will take us up on our hospitality someday!

We can expect no help from the EPA or from the administration on anything related to the fossil fuel industry.

Thank you, Itai Vardi, for the amazing reporting. Read Itai’s full report in The Huffington Post.

What a beautiful day it was today, We had a pet blessing celebration in the public park that is located next to the proposed compressor station site - a space that will be lost if the compressor station is built. Many thanks to the Reverends Gretchen Elmendorf and Betsy Sowers for their service. ❤️

So many new furry and feathery Friends of FRRACS were on hand! We hope that many more will come and to walk with their companions in this beautiful park.

Our billboard Grand Opening on Quincy Ave. was well attended tonight! Thanks to the Grim Reaper and his ghostly friend for joining us!

And many, many thanks to Quincy City Council President, Brad Croall, for being there to celebrate with us!

Undersecretary of Homeland Security for the Commonwealth, Patrick McMurray, was invited to hear from the Emergency Managements of Weymouth, Quincy, Braintree, and Hingham and to view a presentation made by Matt Brennan from the Weymouth Board of Health. We thank Matt for putting this together.

You can watch a recording of the meeting here.

A natural gas pipeline ruptured in British Columbia today, leaving hundreds of thousands at risk of losing gas service. This is yet another example of the dangers that fossil fuel infrastructure poses. We can simply cannot afford to rely on fossil fuels any longer.

Vancouver Sun - B.C. pipeline rupture causes natural gas shortage, soaring gasoline prices

Congressman Lynch recently sent letters to Governor Baker, FERC, and the Chairman of the Subcommittee on National Security, to ask for a comprehensive safety review of the proposed compressor station. These letters were sent in response to the devasting gas fires and explosions that recently occurred in MA and PA.

WBUR stopped by one of our weekly standouts. Check out their story here!

Occupy Hingham and FRRACS have been holding signs every Wednesday afternoon for nearly 4 years to help spread the word about the compressor station. Many thanks to all who have joined the standout!