A recent study from Harvard University, University of Birmingham, University of Leicester, and University College London, found that 8 million people died in 2018 from exposure to fossil fuel pollution.

Thanks to so many of you, FERC has received nearly 200 comments asking them to approve our request for a rehearing on their approval of Enbridge’s in-service certificate. If you haven’t had a chance to submit a comment, you can do so here until Feb. 18.

Let’s keep the pressure on! As a follow-up to our FERC comment action item, we are asking folks to contact Senator Markey, Senator Warren, and Representative Lynch, asking them to make the same request of FERC: approve FRRACS’s request for a rehearing. Sample talking points and contact information provided - click “Read more”.

We need to know what we are living with, and we cannot rely on the state to do their job to protect us and our health. That's the bottom line, Campers. So, we have begun to install Purple Air monitors throughout the Fore River Basin. We currently have 2 installed and plan to install 8 more in the coming weeks. These monitors measure PM 2.5 in real time. You can view a live update of our Quincy Point monitor here.

Many thanks to CARCS for getting us started, many thanks to all of those who have donated for more monitors, many thanks to those offering their homes as stations, and many thanks to our Board Member Robert Kearns for all of his work to get them installed. Many hands make light work.

You can read more about this effort in The Patriot Ledger - Fore River Basin air monitors called 'community science project' (link)

Councilor Haugh has announced that she will not seek re-election on the Weymouth Town Council. FRRACS has had the honor of working with Councilor Haugh both as a Town Councilor and as a Board member of FRRACS. Councilor Haugh will serve out her term as an at-large councilor through January of 2022.

You can read more in the Weymouth News about her decision and what she plans on doing next: Weymouth News - Weymouth councilor looks back and ahead (link)

Quick update for folks: Enbridge stated on January 22 that they would be placing their compressor station into service on January 23, after receiving temporary approval from PHMSA. Their station did not in fact turn on, and as of today, January 30, it’s still not operating. Small victory!

The station is NOT running although Enbridge argued to the 1st Circuit it would need to run on cold days like these past few ones. It is a myth. As you can see in this video, there are no heat signatures or vapors coming out of the rectangular stack. We don't need this boondoggle!

We are building a local network of purple air monitors in the Fore River Basin. We are going to have multiple monitors in the different Environmental Justice communities in East Braintree, Quincy Point and Germantown as well as the two Weymouth neighborhoods: Idelwell and North Weymouth.

You can see an interactive map of all purple air monitors including our network at www.purpleair.com/map.

Whimsical and grim, that is us! This story in Boston Hassel highlights the community’s —and the elves’— resistance to the compressor station. You can read the full story here.

Margaret asked AG Healey if she had any information about Enbridge’s announcement that they would be turning the compressor station on, despite the fact that PHMSA has not released their root cause analysis. The AG said she would be meeting with Enbridge this week and would update date us (and the public) as to what she learns. We will follow up with the AG’s office if we don’t hear anything soon. (Thank you, Margaret, for connecting with the AG again!)

You can listen to the clip on Boston Public Radio here. Click on January 28 - “BPR Full Show 1/28/21: Who You Gonna Call?”. The conversation takes place at 02:26:01 to 02:29:50.

Great news, our first air monitor is up live in Quincy Point! You can view it and the map at https://www.purpleair.com/map

Thank you all so much for your donations, we have surpassed our goal and raised $1,700 to buy 6 additional purple air monitors for the basin! Thank you all for your generous donations!

A most thorough and thoughtful letter to FERC from Dr. Philip Landrigan. This really sums up all that we are fighting in the Basin.

Thank you, Dr. Landrigan! And thank you, again, to all of you Fore River Campers and allies who have taken the time to post on the docket. This is how we get it done--lift all voices.

Thank you to everyone who joined us this evening for our update meeting on recent events regarding the compressor station. And thank you to our speakers! We hope you found it helpful and informative. If we didn't get to answer your question, please email us at nocompressor@gmail.com, and we will try to reply as soon as possible.

You can view a recording of the meeting here. You can also re-watch the livestream directly on our Facebook page.

Some good news: the Weymouth compressor station did NOT go into service today, January 23, 2021. Enbridge announced yesterday that they’d be turning their compressor station on today, after receiving temporary approval from PHMSA.

We’ve received notice that Enbridge intends to turn on their compressor station this weekend (beginning Saturday, Jan. 23, 2021). No panicking, Campers. We'll be following up. The letter from PHMSA indicates a phased start up. We're curious as to the timing, too. Enbridge's certificate extension ends on Sunday, and they haven't fulfilled the requirements of the original certificate.

You can read more from WBUR - Weymouth Compressor Operator Says It’s Starting Up Facility This Weekend (link)

President Biden named Commissioner Glick as the chairperson of FERC as of today! We welcome this news for Commissioner Glick has long been outspoken about climate and FERC's need to consider climate change in its decisions on fossil fuel build-outs.

Good news!! In an executive order, President Biden revoked the Presidential permit for the Keystone XL pipeline. Many thanks and appreciation to all of the organizers and communities who have fought for years to shut down this dangerous pipeline.

Action Item: We are asking the public to submit comments to FERC using their online comment portal, urging them to approve our request for a rehearing on their decision to approve Enbridge’s certificate of operation. Can you send a comment to FERC? Click here for instructions on how to submit a comment.

Three of the five Commissioners rejected the denial of FRRACS' rehearing request that was issued in November of 2020.

MassDEP rules in favor of polluters once again. This evening we learned that MassDEP Presiding Officer Jane Rothchild ruled in favor of Enbridge in our BACT appeal. Though we aren't surprised by this decision, we are disappointed. But don’t worry. The fight isn't over! We're taking this appeal to federal court. Stay tuned for more updates. Thank you for sticking with us.

You can read the full ruling here.

An amazing run down of the Climate Bill taking up space on Baker's desk by Weymouth's own Tim Cronin! Read it here.

A regional plan that includes Weymouth, Quincy, and Braintree needs to be developed on the state level for the compressor station. Enbridge’s station poses a serious safety risk to surrounding communities. Although we continue to organize to shut down the compressor station permanently, we believe it is imperative to address and plan for the safety risks that the compressor station poses.

You can read more here: Weymouth News - Regional emergency plan urged for Weymouth compressor (link)