For Immediate Release: FRRACS Files Ethics Inquiry

Contact:  Alice Arena, nocompressor@gmail.com

For Immediate Release

The Fore River Residents Against the Compressor Station have filed a request with the State Ethics Commission Executive Director David Wilson to investigate the recent departure of Secretary of Energy and Environment Matthew Beaton to TRC Environmental.

TRC Environmental is the environmental consulting firm who has represented Enbridge (Spectra/Algonquin) in the siting of the proposed Weymouth compressor station. TRC has appeared before the Weymouth Conservation Commission and developed and published the Resource Reports and Environmental Assessment for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for Enbridge.  TRC also performed, as an independent contractor, the investigation into the contamination of the site and published the Access and Use Limitation Report. TRC was recently cited for non-compliance by the Department of Environmental Protection in regards to their performance and report.

Secretary Beaton oversaw the activities of the Department of Environmental Protection, Office of Coastal Zone Management, and the Department of Public Utilities in reference to the permitting of this proposed compressor.

The Fore River Residents are requesting documents from the Ethics Commission regarding correspondence between the former secretary, the departments he oversaw, Governor Baker, and Enbridge in regards to any activity surrounding the permitting of the Weymouth compressor. FRRACS is also requesting a copy of the form that Beaton was to have given the Ethics Commission at the beginning of his interview process with TRC. 

President of the Fore River Residents, Alice Arena, states that, "Secretary Beaton's recent employment with a company that has a vested financial interest in the permitting of the Weymouth compressor does not pass the smell test.  Section 3 (d) of the Summary of the Conflict of Interest law for state employees states that 'He also may not participate in any particular matter in which a prospective employer, or a business organization of which he is a director, officer, trustee, or employee has a financial interest.' It is not possible for us to believe that Secretary Beaton was unaware of this glaring conflict."