MTA members recently joined allies on the Fore River Bridge for a protest against a natural gas compressor station proposed for a residential-industrial area of Weymouth.
Educators held signs during the Dec. 27 action with messages such as "No Compressor Station" and "Protect Our Children" as cars and trucks passed.
Residents of Weymouth and other South Shore communities — along with groups concerned about climate change, environmental justice and public health and safety — have been fighting the compressor station for five years.
On Dec. 7, the MTA Board of Directors adopted a New Business Item opposing the station’s construction.
The NBI reads in part, "The MTA will stand in solidarity with Massachusetts residents who are fighting to keep a toxic natural gas compressor station from being built in a residential-industrial area of Weymouth. The MTA will show its solidarity by helping to publicize this fight in existing media channels, encouraging members to get involved, and donating $1,000 to the Fore River Residents Against the Compressor Station (FRRACS) legal defense fund."
The project would connect two existing pipelines in order to move fracked gas from New Jersey through Massachusetts and into Canada, where it would be exported to international markets.
Opponents of the project point out that the compressor station expands the country’s reliance on fossil fuels and that the station will emit methane, which actively contributes to climate change.
They have also raised safety concerns about the plant, which would be located less than a mile from area elementary schools and within 1.5 miles of housing for elderly people, nursing homes and a mental health facility. The site is adjacent to the bridge, which is critical to emergency response in the area. In addition, Greater Boston Physicians for Social Responsibility has predicted that the compressor station is likely to increase health threats for area residents, who already suffer from higher than average rates of cancer, childhood asthma, and heart and respiratory diseases.
In November, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued a notice to proceed on the project, but opponents are undeterred.
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Call 800.286.6149 to register for your free MTA hearing benefits:
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To learn more about the project and opposition to it, visit nocompressor.com.
