Dear Gov. Baker: We are tired of your inaction
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Dear Friend of FRRACS,
Today sent it to Gov. Baker through his constituent services site. Scroll to down to read the full letter.
We are tired of a Governor who does not care for ALL of his constituents. We are tired of agencies that are so deeply in regulatory capture (i.e., the industry runs the agency) that they fail, again and again, to do their job and uphold their mission. We know that you share our exhaustion.
We do not expect Gov. Baker to respond. He had that opportunity for over 200 days when Andrea and many others sat in his office. He had that opportunity when Andrea cornered him in the elevator, and he told her that she was "brutal." Apparently he doesn't know from brutal, and he definitely has not met all of us!
We do not appreciate a governor who diminishes and dismisses his constituents with snarky comments like "locals" and "accusations," somehow trying to make us look like just another bunch of complainers who have no right to redress for our grievances, somehow trying to make our very real concerns of health, safety, environmental, and economic issues with this needless compressor station seem like nothing more than an irritation. If you have not see this clip from last Saturday go here.
We are following up on everything we can with the vacated air quality permit. Stick with us, Fore River Campers! Your support and work has been nothing short of amazing.
In Solidarity,
The FRRACS Team
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Letter to Baker
June 11, 2020
Dear Governor Baker,
It's been quite some time since I have written a public note to you. I believe the last time it was when you said that the Basin wasn't "virgin territory," i.e. my community is a dump and more trash should be put here.
Last Saturday, June 6, 2020, I think you called me a hick. In reference to a question by a reporter about the vacated air quality permit you stated that the court had rejected the "accusations" of the "locals." I take offense to your characterization of the massive legal undertakings of the Fore River Residents Against the Compressor Station, the Town of Weymouth, the City of Quincy, the Town of Braintree, the Town of Hingham, and the Hingham Residents Group as "accusations." Weren't you the person who said that if we had a problem with what your DEP issued that we should take it to court?
I once gave you credit for being more intelligent. Perhaps we need to give you a little education. In legal terms, our briefs before the court contained our arguments as to why the air quality permit was improperly granted by your Department of Environmental Protection. A term that a Governor should use to address his constituents is citizen of the Commonwealth. Those citizens, of which I am one, elected you to do a job. And that job did not include swearing allegiance to the fossil fuel industry in which, apparently, you are personally heavily invested. (Go here if you need your memory refreshed on that.) An allegiance, by the way, that puts our Commonwealth at risk of violating regulations that the Supreme Judicial Court said must be met (Global Warming Solutions Act).
So here we are again. You, disdainfully looking down your nose at a group of citizens seeking redress of grievances, and us, fighting like hell to get you to do your job. That job was to uphold the Constitution of the United States and of the Commonwealth, to protect your citizens, and to do the best for the majority of us. (Interestingly, Article 97 of the Constitution of the Commonwealth guarantees the citizens the right to clean air and water.) It's all in your oath of office, so please refer to that for another refresher.
#TheLocalsSay--get the DEP to do their job. That's what the court wants, too. Had anyone in your administration or agencies listened to the Energy Facilities Siting Board way back in 2015, they would have recognized that the placement of this compressor was folly. However, that is not our problem at this point. The BACT analysis will show that the electric motor will cut the toxins coming from the station by over 50%. In an urban setting that is already overburdened with pollution, this is mandatory. Hearing Officer Rothchild even stated in her opinion that the DEP needed to revisit their horrible practice of not considering background levels of pollution BEFORE permitting another polluting facility. Perhaps you should read that as well.
#TheLocalsSay--that you need to stop the construction now, regardless of what FERC is doing, because Enbridge no longer has the permits required by the FERC certificate. It's really the very least you could do since you've done exactly nothing so far.
Your buddies at Enbridge are delivering no gas to the Commonwealth through the Weymouth compressor station. Just ask National Grid. So what exactly is your excuse for your continued push to further pollute this corner of the Commonwealth, sicken the residents, TAX (#Nocompressortax) those same residents for this toxic facility through rate increases likely to be granted by YOUR DPU over the objections of AG Healey, and leave us vulnerable to a massive accident that could be caused by a malfunction at this facility?
Just answer the questions. We've been waiting for almost 6 years. We've run out of patience, and you owe it to the citizens.
Most sincerely,
Alice Arena
President, FRRACS