OPINION: No Compressor! An Update

July 14, 2019 Submitted By Elizabeth Moulds

The Issue

A precedent-setting compressor station is slated to be built adjacent to Highway 3A and the Fore River Bridge. The area is already over-polluted, and its residents suffer from higher than average rates of respiratory disease and cancers tied to pollution. The site is also next to highly flammable industries and fuel storage tanks. Parts of Hingham are within 2 miles of the proposed site.

When evaluating whether to issue an air quality permit, the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection did not require background air toxics to be included in its analysis. Evidence of existing carcinogens above the Ambient Air Limit in the area were deemed irrelevant.

What Exactly is a Compressor Station?

Located every 40-100 miles along gas pipelines, compressor stations heat the gas in the pipes, which increases its pressure to keep it moving. Gas leaks are inherent to their operations, both in their normal operations and during “blowdowns”, which occur when large amounts of gas are expelled at compressor sites to relieve pressure. Because it is so difficult to model what exactly is expelled during blowdowns, those pollutants are also excluded from the permitting decision.

Compressor stations are typically placed in rural areas due to their public health and safety risks. On 12/23/15, a compressor station exploded in a rural area, causing sheetrock damage to a house over a mile away. “[T]he explosion felt like a truck had hit the house going about 75 mph. He got up and saw a fireball coming up from the compressor station. . . It knocked all the pictures… out of place.” http://www.watfordcitynd.com/?id=10&nid=3533  There is no buffer at the proposed Weymouth location. In fact, 3,100 kids live or go to school within a mile of the site.

The Weymouth Location

The proposed site would be unprecedentedly close to thousands of residents. Located on just 4 acres it is adjacent to a busy state highway and a bridge. Within 1/2-mile are 900+ homes in Weymouth and Quincy. Also within a 1-mile radius of the proposed site are ten industrial and highly flammable facilities.

The area is already over-polluted. Residents suffer higher than state average rates of asthma and pediatric asthma, COPD, cardiovascular conditions, and many pollution-specific cancers. Nevertheless, a health assessment attributed the poor health of the residents of the Fore River Basin to smoking and concluded that the compressor station would not adversely impact public health.

Air sampling conducted by the Department of Environmental Protection found elevated levels of the following carcinogens are already present: formaldehyde; benzene, 1,3 butadiene (highly potent carcinogen associated w/ leukemia); acrolein; acrylonitrile;  acetaldehyde; and 1,2-Dichloroethane. *DEP released most of this information at the conclusion of the second day of a three-day hearing on the air permit, well after the health effects of the proposed compressor station had been considered.

Despite the over-pollution and the high rates of adverse health effects, DEP has maintained that the background level of air toxics and the cumulative effect that the proposed compressor station will have on air quality are irrelevant to its decision to issue an air quality permit.

Status of the Permits

Air Quality – DEP issued the air permit on July 12, 2019. It will be appealed to federal court, in the First Circuit.

Wetlands – no decision issued yet.

Waterways – the hearing was bifurcated (split) and no decision has been issued on the second half.

CZM – proceedings here are stayed pending the outcome of the three state-issued permits. This decision will be appealed to state superior court.

The court appeals will not automatically stop construction, though the opposing parties will seek an injunction to stop building until the appeals conclude. If the injunction is not granted, construction could begin as early as August, 2019.

What Can I Do?

Siting a gas compressor station in such a vulnerable area and close to so many families is not the precedent Massachusetts should be setting. To contribute to the fight, please consider donating at https://www.nocompressor.com/.

Elizabeth Moulds