The Fore River Residents Against the Compressor Station (FRAACS) held their monthly meeting and heard from Weymouth Mayor Robert Hedlund and Town Solicitor Joe Callanan.
Callanan says the construction on the compressor station is expected to be “substantially complete” this week.
Hedlund says the opposition continues for the project, 24 lawsuits have been filed in five years.
“We knew the deck was stacked against us at the federal level, but we were certainly let down on the actions we took with state regulators. The air quality permit obviously is the issue that is in front of us right now,” said Hedlund. “We have the full panel re-hearing in the First Circuit. We have the pending appeal of the remanded air quality plan approval that was recently approved by DEP. That decision was from last Friday.”
Callanan feels that their concerns raised with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission have fallen on deaf ears.
This includes details in the event of a catastrophic failure at the station. Based on models from town experts, they were concerned.
“FERC knew from the information that they had in the certificate, that the heat units would be so high that it would injure or kill people on the bridge, but then had the audacity to put in the certificate that the bridge would be safe – but they never said anything about people on the bridge being safe… what we’ve done is try to raise that issue at every opportunity we can,” said Callanan. “Only we can bring it up with FERC, and FERC has never listened to us.”
Hedlund feels if the town has to host the station, it should be taxed in a way that reflects the investment made.
FRAACS President Alice Arena felt there would be a burden placed on nearby communities. Quincy, Braintree, and Hingham would not get anything in return.
“It’s going to put pressure on our first responders. No matter how you slice it, there’s going to be more activity going on because of this station,” said Arena. “This is going to cost the taxpayer, people like me, extra money for a facility that we don’t want.”
“It’s actually going to cost us money,” said Hedlund. “We get less tax revenue – property tax, personal property tax from this completed project than when before the project started. That’s how convoluted the way we tax gas pipeline infrastructure is.”
