FRRACS to met with DEP on Friday

A few weeks ago, we occupied DEP’s office in Lakeville after all of our calls and emails went unanswered for weeks. Dozens of people occupied the office for a few hours as we waited for a representative to speak with us. A DEP representative eventually agreed to respond to our inquiries via email, which they had previously been ignoring. Soon after we stormed their office, Nathan Phillips started a hunger strike (you can read his statement and demands here). All of these events put enough pressure on DEP to get them to agree to met with us in a public format. This Friday, we will be meeting with Millie Garcia-Serrano, Regional Director of the MassDEP Southeast Regional Office, and Gerard Martin, Deputy Regional Director for the Bureau of Waste Site Management and Cleanup, to discuss our serious concerns about Enbridge’s dangerous cleanup process. We will share updates soon after the meeting. Many thanks to everyone who has continued to put pressure on the DEP.

Weymouth News - Compressor station foes to meet with regulators Friday (link)

Excerpt: “Residents fighting the construction of a natural-gas compressor station on the banks of the Fore River say they are finally sitting down with regulators to voice their concerns, including that crews working to excavate contaminated fill at the site are allowing hazardous materials to spread.

Alice Arena, of the Fore River Residents Against the Compressor Station, said she and several other members will meet Friday with Millie Garcia-Serrano, regional director of the state Department of Environmental Protection’s southeast office, and other officials to discuss their concerns about ongoing work at the site, including what they see as blatant violations and shortcomings in regulator oversight.

“We have a lot of questions about the lack of oversight, and violations of the (release abatement measure) plan that we’ve been asking for three months,” Arena said. “Hopefully we’ll be able to get to the beginning of a conversation and to get them engaged in actual oversight.”’ (Weymouth News, 2020)