FRRACS files petition for review in federal court for AQ Permit

FRRACS, Weymouth, Braintree, Quincy, and Hingham filed a petition for review in federal court in response to the DEP’s approval of Enbridge’s air quality permit.

See you in court, Enbridge, DEP, and the Baker Administration. We told you we were not going anywhere.

State House News Service - GAS PROJECT OPPONENTS TAKE BAKER ADMINISTRATION TO COURT

Excerpt: “Opponents to a controversial natural gas compressor station in Weymouth are officially taking their case to court. Residents and the municipalities of Weymouth, Braintree, Quincy and Hingham filed a complaint Thursday in state court and a petition for review in federal court, imploring a judge to overturn an air-quality permit the Department of Environmental Protection issued for the project and then upheld. The legal challenge is an escalation of the years-long dispute over plans for the compressor station, which energy giant Enbridge is seeking to install near the Fore River as part of its Atlantic Bridge pipeline infrastructure. Opponents, which include many residents and local elected officials, warn that the facility will create significant negative environmental and health impacts and pose a safety risk to a densely populated area. Hundreds of homes are within a one-mile radius of the already-polluted area. A health impact assessment commissioned by state regulators found that the compressor would not significantly damage public health, but the DEP later said it was based on incomplete air-quality data, prompting its authors to suggest the conclusions could not be assumed to stand. The plaintiffs in the case had previously appealed the air-quality permit through the DEP, which issue the permit, but said after the department stood by its original decision that they would take the matter to court. In the complaint filed in Norfolk Superior Court, they allege that the DEP's appeal process was "procedurally flawed" and failed to apply the DEP's own regulations and limit emissions that would be created by the facility. Wetlands and waterways permits the DEP issued remain under appeal with final decisions forthcoming. The state Office of Coastal and Zone Management previously extended its own deadline to complete a review of the project until Sept. 5 to allow those cases to finish. A DEP spokesman could not be reached for immediate comment Friday. - Chris Lisinski/SHNS” (State House News Service, 2019)