FERC to reconsider the Weymouth Compressor Station!

This morning we were informed that our briefing that was filed in April and May of 2021 will finally be heard before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on Thursday, January 20, 2022. You can see the information here under the Sunshine Notice. To access the meeting webcast on Jan. 20, go here. (Many thanks to member Cathy K. for keeping a keen eye on the FERC docket.)

What does this mean? We are only hopeful, though not sure, that it might mean that FERC could reconsider the operation of the now constructed Weymouth compressor station given all of the information filed in our brief and in the briefs of our many allies.

As we have contended, the compressor station was put in the wrong place at the wrong time and was never required by anyone but the greedy Enbridge. Much time has passed since Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration gave Enbridge the green light to turn on the gas (temporarily?) last January. Since that time, our members on the ground have noted that the compressor runs very, very infrequently. National Grid stated in their DPU filings in November of 2019 that they did not need the Weymouth compressor to meet domestic distribution. Eversource followed suit with the same comment shortly thereafter. And the feared Goldboro, Nova Scotia LNG plant went the way of the dinosaur in June of 2021. So where is all of this gas going? Where is it needed? The facts speak for themselves--it was never needed and the compressor was a stranded asset from the get-go.

You will be able to join the FERC meeting via the link provided above. We are keeping our fingers crossed that this time FERC will undertake the serious business of considering environmental justice, climate change, and actual need as opposed to giving the fossil fuel industry a rubber stamp on every project they have ever submitted to the agency. But either way, we will not give up the fight.

Keep a positive thought, and join us at the FERC meeting if you are able!