Early this morning, over 200 members of Fore River Residents Against the Compressor Station (FRRACS) and allies gathered for a mass demonstration at Enbridge’s compressor station site to call on Baker and the DEP to immediately halt construction on the project. Multiple people were arrested for blocking the gate to the construction site., while two other people were arrested for locking to pieces of construction equipment on site. As a result of today’s action, construction was stopped and workers left the site.

There is so much to catch up on that, rather than bore you with minutiae, we're going to try to summarize, give you links to all of the information, and celebrate the Mighty Margaret all at the same time! Read below to get all of the details!

Thank you, Jessica Trufant for continuing to cover this health hazard. DEP has determined that asbestos is "not a contaminant of concern at the site." We disagree. We are demanding more testing.

The Patriot Ledger - State regulators won’t do more asbestos testing at the Weymouth compressor site (link)

Nathan Phillips shares his reflection on his hunger strike in CommonWealth magazine. Read it here.

Thank you so much to our legislators who sent a letter to MassDOT Secretary Pollack and MBTA GM Poftak requesting a risk assessment for the Fore River Bridge. There are serious vulnerabilities to this critical piece of transportation infrastructure.

You can read their letter below or here.

Gov. Baker visited Boston Public Radio for his monthly “Ask the Governor” segment. Our member, Margaret, got a question in live. She pressed him on the DEP’s lack of testing at the compressor site. Gov. Baker responded by saying, “I will talk to DEP and…if it’s something we can get done in a reasonably short time, we will do it.” What’s with the time crunch? Why can’t they just go in, dig a little, and collect samples. The analysis doesn’t take very long.

Margaret says she "will remind Gov. Baker that he said "we will do it" (asbestos testing)." You can listen here; conversation starts at about 17:50.

Fantastic article about our friend, Prof. Nathan Phillips. He's quite the human being, and we're so glad he's part of our FRRACS family.

Inside Climate News - Crossing the Line: A Scientist’s Road From Neutrality to Activism (link)

Call and email JF Price -- (781) 335-1021 : info@jfpriceco.com -- and urge them to put an end to their work with Enbridge.

JF Price is a local company that is working directly with Enbridge by supplying them with sand and gravel for the beginning stages of construction. We delivered a letter to JF Price last week, outlining the harms that the compressor station would pose, and urged them to cancel any remaining contracts with Enbridge. We asked them to respond to us by February 11, 2020. They have not responded.

After two weeks, Nathan has announced that he is ending his hunger strike. We thank Nathan for putting his body on line in the fight for justice. You can read his statement below.

WBUR - 'I Feel Victorious': BU Professor Ends Hunger Strike Over Weymouth Compressor (link)

Nathan Phillips speaks about his work with FRRACS and his decision to go on a hunger strike. Watch below!

Videography by Sue Murad & Bob Gifford. Sound and editing by Carolyn Shadid Lewis.

Our friend, Dottie, has been part of the FRRACS family since the beginning. Every week, she joins the standout on the bridge, helping to spread the word about this important fight. Dottie recently broke her hip while skiing, but is healing well. Send her some healing thoughts!

Thank you, Dottie, for everything that you give to this fight.

The Patriot Ledge - A GOOD AGE: Broken hip won't stop 90-year-old skier (link)

Alice Arena joined Audible Cafe today to talk about the fight to stop the compressor station. Listen here! And thank you to Audible Cafe for covering this story!

We met with MassDEP today to discuss our concerns around the contamination at the site and Enrbidge’s dangerous cleanup process. We met with Millie Garcia-Serrano, Regional Director of the MassDEP Southeast Regional Office, and Gerard Martin, Deputy Regional Director for the Bureau of Waste Site Management. The meeting was a roundtable discussion and lasted nearly four hours. You can watch the livestream below.

Nathan Phillips, a longtime ally and BU professor, has been on a hunger strike for many days now, in an effort to get the DEP to address serious public health concerns at the compressor station construction site. You can access all of the recent media stories below.

Please keep Nathan in your thoughts.

A few weeks ago, we occupied DEP’s office in Lakeville after all of our calls and emails went unanswered for weeks. Dozens of people occupied the office for a few hours as we waited for a representative to speak with us. A DEP representative eventually agreed to respond to our inquiries via email, which they had previously been ignoring. Soon after we stormed their office, Nathan Phillips started a hunger strike (you can read his statement and demands here). All of these events put enough pressure on DEP to get them to agree to met with us in a public format. We will be meeting with the Southeast Regional Office this Friday.

Dozens of faith leaders have signed on to our Faith Leaders Statement in Support of Dr. Nathan Phillips’ Hunger Strike. You can read their statement below.

Nathan's full statement about his reasons for engaging in the hunger strike is available here.

We delivered a letter to the owner of JF Price today, demanding that they cancel any further contracts with Enbridge that they have remaining.

JF Price, a local company, has been supplying Enbridge with sand and gravel, which is enabling Enbridge's destructive project to continue. In addition to our letter, we provided JF Price with a packet of informational material about the project and why it is so harmful.

We have asked the owner to respond to our letter by Tuesday, February 11. You can read the letter below or by clicking here.

Nathan Phillips and Andrea Honore (Andrea led the 200+ day sit-in at Gov. Baker’s office), visited MassDEP and Gov. Baker’s office today, to get them to address issues related to the compressor.

You can watch their livestream videos here: Video 1 | Video 2

Nathan Phillips started a hunger strike on January 29 to call attention to the public health crisis unfolding at the compressor station construction site. He is asking folks to make two calls to support his ongoing hunger strike:

• Gov. Baker’s office 617-725-4005

• DEP Commissioner Suuberg’s office 617-292-5500

You can say: "I am calling to urge you to meet the three demands that will allow the ongoing hunger strike of Dr. Nathan Phillips to cease." It's fine to leave a message.

We call on the faculty, staff, students, the board and administrators of Dartmouth to call the Arthur L. Irving Institute for Energy and Society at Dartmouth at (603) 646-6683 and urge Irving Oil to cancel its contract with Enbridge. Watch our new video here.