Patriot Ledger Coverage of Air Permit Deadline
/Last weekend brought big news: MassDEP has until January 2019 to make a decision about Spectra/Enbridge's air permit. This will allow the state to have some breathing room while they conduct a Health Impact Assessment (HIA) in the Fore River Basin. This does not mean that our fight is over, but it is good news nonetheless.
Excerpt from The Patriot Ledger: "Opponents of a proposed North Weymouth natural-gas compressor station say they are pleased the state has almost a year to study the impacts and decide whether to issue a clean air permit for the project, but they plan to stay vigilant in overseeing the process.
Spectra Energy-Enbridge subsidiary Algonquin Gas Transmission filed a petition in federal court last week seeking a deadline for the state Department of Environmental Protection to decide whether to issue an air permit for the 7,700-horsepower compressor station the company wants to build on the banks of the Fore River. In response, the state agreed to issue its permit decision by Jan. 11, 2019, and any appeal decisions and final permits by June 28, 2019.
That means the state will have about 10 months to conduct a health impact assessment for the proposed facility as ordered by Gov. Charlie Baker last summer. If the state didn’t work with Algonquin to set a deadline, the court could have forced the state to make a decision on the permit before the assessment was completed."