Yesterday afternoon, DEP Commissioner Martin Suuberg released his non-decision on the Ch. 91 Waterways remand recommendation of Adjudicator Jane Rothchild. You might recall from a prior mailing that Ms. Rothchild finally gave us a thoughtful and positive decision on this permit matter. Leave it to the Commissioner to mess that up!

After seven years and eight months of battling Enbridge and their cohorts, it finally happened. FRRACS made a slight mistake. We at FRRACS are big on the truthiness, so we want to let you know about this and explain--to the best of our ability--what is actually going on.

From our good friend Dr. Philip Landrigan. Just more reasons that the DEP needs to actually do their job!! Thank you, Dr. Landrigan!

Read the op-ed here: The Boston Globe - Air pollution is responsible for premature deaths in every Massachusetts city and town

We recently received news that MassDEP presiding officer (adjudicator) Jane Rothchild, recommended that the department revisit the approval of Enbridge’s Chapter 91 Waterways License. To receive a waterways license, a project needs to be considered “water-dependent” — the compressor station is not water-dependent. We appealed the initial approval of this license on this basis. We welcomed the news from presiding officer Rothchild and are now awaiting a decision from the Commissioner Suuberg of the DEP. WBUR covered this story — you can read more here.

Late on Friday afternoon, Adjudicator Jane Rothchild of the MA Department of Environmental Protection remanded the Ch. 91 Waterways permit back to the DEP for further review. Essentially agreeing with our complaint that the compressor station was NOT water dependent, Adjudicator Rothchild has thrown this important permit back to the DEP for reconsideration.

FRRACS stood with Mass Power Forward as one of 11 rallies across the state to urge MA Legislature to vote for strong Climate Bill before their session ends on July 31. Will they?

More details: Patriot Ledger - Photos: Climate activists rally in Quincy to demand action in State House

We are sad to report that community members discovered hate speech spray painted on the access road under the Fore River Bridge, located next to the compressor station. We alerted the Town of Weymouth, who sent the DPW to remove the spray paint. While we are a believer in free speech, hate speech is not protected speech.

RED ALERT: Public today is this long term study of the toxins that leak--24/7--from our gas stoves and gas heating systems. It is not good news, Fore River Campers.

Our appeal of Enbridge’s Chapter 91 Waterways License was reviewed at a hearing on June 21 by Presiding Officer Jane Rothchild. You can view a recording of the hearing here.

Listen to our recent interview with WBZ Radio - In The Fight Over the Weymouth Compressor, A New Push

Today, members of the FRRACS community visited the office of Attorney General Maura Healey to encourage her to take action on the compressor station. We encourage Attorney General Healey to address the recent remand of Enbridge’s waterways license as it relates to Massachusetts EJ law (environmental justice).

On May 2, 2022, Norfolk Superior Court Judge Joseph Leighton vacated the Chapter 91 Waterways permit for the Algonquin Weymouth compressor station and remanded the permit back to the MA Department of Environmental Protection.

We submitted a letter to FERC today in response to this ruling.

We received some amazing news from our wonderful attorney, Mike Hayden. On March 31, Mike presented our case to Superior Court Judge Joseph Leighton against the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) for granting the Chapter 91 Waterways permit to Enbridge. Judge Leighton has ruled in our favor and has remanded the permit back to the DEP.

Together with allies from across the state, we gathered in the public park located next to the compressor station to celebrate Earth Day together.

Some residents received a notice in the mail from Enbridge, informing them of “enhancements” being made to the compressor. Enbridge spokesperson Maxime Bergeron told us that "enhancements" are not part of the Atlantic Bridge project so there is no requirement to put them on the FERC docket (Federal Energy Regulatory Commission) monthly compliance reporting.

ALERT: Enbridge will be doing a series of blowdowns from March 28 through April 1 from 7:00 AM to 5:00 PM. Those with breathing issues such as asthma, please wear your masks when outside. We will be watching the PM2.5 levels during this time.

Thanks to Paul and other members for getting us this information!

If you're in the Boston area, we encourage you to stop by the Norman B. Leventhal Map & Education Center at the Boston Public Library for their new exhibit, "More or Less in Common: Environment and Justice in the Human Landscape". The Weymouth compressor station fight is featured in the exhibit. The exhibit is open from March 18 - December 28. You can read more about the exhibit here: https://www.leventhalmap.org/exhibitions/

The next PIP meeting with TRC is Thursday, March 24 from 7-9pm on Zoom. The focus of this meeting will be to present the results and receive comments on the Draft Partial Permanent Solution Statement with Conditions Statement (Partial PSCS).

More details from TRC here: https://www.trccompanies.com/insights/weymouth-pip/

You can join the meeting using this link: https://trccompanies.zoom.us/j/88319319503 or by calling 1 929-436-2866 and entering the following webinar ID: 883 1931 9503

As you may have already heard from many different media outlets, including the Patriot Ledger, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued their statement yesterday regarding the call for paper briefing from last February.

This morning we were informed that our briefing that was filed in April and May of 2021 will finally be heard before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on Thursday, January 20, 2022. You can see the information here under the Sunshine Notice. To access the meeting webcast on Jan. 20, go here. (Many thanks to member Cathy K. for keeping a keen eye on the FERC docket.)