Enbridge misses deadline for soil testing at proposed compressor site

After the DEP determined that the contamination at the proposed compressor station site was in fact not “historic fill”, they ordered Enbridge to complete more soil testing. Enbridge was given until July 19th to complete their testing but missed the deadline. Because they missed the deadline, DEP has entered Enbridge into an administrative consent order (ACO), which they have until January of 2020 to complete. This ACO requires Enbridge to do more testing and analysis. This is good news as it buys us a bit more time. You can read more from The Patriot Ledger.

The Patriot Ledger - Gas company misses deadline for testing soil at Weymouth site

“Residents and officials fighting a proposed natural-gas compressor station on the banks of the Fore River say it’s unlikely that construction of the controversial project could start this year after the gas company missed a deadline to submit additional hazardous waste soil testing.

The state Department of Environmental Protection last week entered into an administrative consent order with Algonquin Gas Transmission, a subsidiary of Spectra Energy-Enbridge, to submit by Jan. 17, 2020, more environmental sampling and analysis related to hazardous waste cleanup of the site. Algonquin missed the first deadline of July 19.

Brian Ferrarese, chief of staff for the state Department of Environmental Protection, said in a notice to officials that regulators gavethe company six months for the new deadline after considering the extent of the additional work needed to ” fully and appropriately assess the site,” as well as the public involvement required during the process.

“The company has performed substantial assessment of the site, but additional analysis is still required to address the issues noted by MassDEP,” he wrote.

Weymouth Solicitor Joseph Callanan said he hadn’t received the administrative consent order as of Monday, but it’s “highly unlikely” the gas company could start construction this year given the new deadline for the hazardous waste process.

“Even if (Algonquin) got all the permits, they still have to do this before they can start construction,” he said. “There is more work to be done, and whatever is in this order presumably will take time.”’ (The Patriot Ledger)