Wicked Local
WEYMOUTH-– U.S. Representative Stephen F. Lynch is requesting an immediate shutdown of the Fore River Basin s compressor station following an unplanned gas release on April 6.
Lynch stated the unplanned gas release was the third blowout at the facility since Enbridge Inc. began utilizing it in September 2020.
“Every accident at the Weymouth Compressor Station endangers the lives and health of local residents and surrounding communities, and these so-called blowouts have become a dangerous pattern of releasing harmful gas into the nearby residential neighborhood,” he stated. “It is completely unacceptable to allow Enbridge to continue their operations. I have reached out to the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration for more details about this accident, but the only response that will protect nearby residents would be to order the Weymouth Compressor Station to shut down immediately.
Petition for electric compressor station motor rejected
WEYMOUTH The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection denied a citizens group petition to have an electric powered turbine at a compressor station in the Fore River Basin.
DEP presiding officer Jane Rothchild said federal regulations don t support a wholesale replacement of the gas turbine by Algonquin Gas Transmission, the Enbridge subsidiary that runs the compressor station.
“A preponderance of the evidence demonstrates that a combustion turbine is a different design than an electric motor drive,” said the ruling on Tuesday. “The equipment in a combustion turbine is different than the equipment in an electric motor drive, and an electric motor drive cannot run on natural gas.”