'Unplanned Gas Release' at Controversial Gas Facility in Weymouth, South of Boston

image_50427649
on

The standard, pre-operational testing of a new natural gas compressor station in the Massachusetts community of Weymouth, south of Boston, had barely begun last week when a gasket failure prompted an emergency shutdown of the facilityย and resulted in an unintentional gas leak. Weymouth’s compressor station, once open, would keep gas pumping through aย regionalย pipeline system,ย but even before this gas leak, its road to get there has been bumpy, withย outcriesย over its air pollution permit and health concerns from the surroundingย community.

Enbridge, the Canadian-based energy pipeline corporation behind the controversial Weymouth compressor station, sent a written notice to Massachusetts state regulators on Friday, September 11 informing them of the mechanical failure and โ€œunplannedโ€ gas release. The compressor stationโ€™s approval plan requires this notification when there is an unplanned gas release exceeding 10,000 standard cubic feet in volume. According to Enbridge, 265,000 standard cubic feet of gas and 35 pounds of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were leaked during theย incident.


Screen shot of Enbridge letter sent to a Mass. Department of Environmental Protection official on September 11,ย 2020

Natural gas, also known as fossil gas,ย is composed almost entirely of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas that has roughly 86 times the warming potential of carbon dioxide over the short-term. Both planned and unplanned gas releases in pipeline infrastructure like compressor stations add methane to the atmosphere, contributingย to the ongoing climate crisis. Emissions of VOCsย and chemicals including some known carcinogens are also common with gas compressor stations. Explosions and fires have occurred in gas systems, including compressors, all over theย country.

Activists opposed to the Weymouth compressor have repeatedly raised a number ofย climate, health, and safety risks. The contentious project has seen sustained local protests and direct action for the last several years. Earlier this year, Boston University Professor Nathan Phillips, an environmental researcher, went on a two-week hunger strike to raise awareness of the compressorโ€™s public health and safetyย hazards.

But federal and state regulators have apparently ignored these concerns. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), which initially approved the project in 2017, granted permission in late November last year for Enbridge subsidiary Algonquin Gas Transmission to begin construction on theย compressor.

Massachusetts permitting authorities such as the Office of Coastal and Zone Management and the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) have also green-lighted the project. In June a federal appeals court overturned the projectโ€™s air quality permit, finding that the DEP erred in approving it, but on August 31, the court reversed its decision and reinstated the permit.

The compressor station is part of Enbridgeโ€™s Atlantic Bridge pipeline carrying fossil gas through the Northeast region and into Canada, where it could be exported. The liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facility in Nova Scotia, however, has not yet been built and it is unclear exactly where the gas is going as several utility companies that originally signed onto the project have since said they do not need the Weymouth compressor to meet customer gasย demand.ย 

โ€œThe question of where the gas is going is totally up in the air,โ€ Alice Arena, Weymouth resident and president of the community group Fore River Residents Against the Compressor Station, toldย DeSmog.

Enbridge is starting testing procedures on the compressor ahead of it becoming operational, which the company is expecting later this year. Testing of the compressor will run through October 1 and involves calibrating piping, venting gas, and running an emergency shutdown test, which had been scheduled for Saturday, Septemberย 12.

But an unplanned, manual emergency shutdown happened the day before on September 11 due to the gasket failure. Arena told DeSmog the company does not yet have a fully operational system for emergencyย shutdowns.

โ€œWhy are they being allowed to fool around with live gas flowing through the pipes when they do not have a functioning emergency shutdown system?โ€ sheย said.

Enbridge did not respond to a DeSmog inquiry asking if a gasket failure is fairly common issue in new compressor stations and if Saturdayโ€™s planned emergency shutdown went ahead as scheduled. Arena told DeSmog that testing procedure has been postponed to later thisย week.

In the wake of the gas leak, several federal lawmakers representing Massachusetts, including Sen. Ed Markey and Rep. Stephen Lynch, have called for the not-yet-open facility to be shut down. Rep. Lynch, whose district includes Weymouth, wrote a letter Monday to U.S. Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao urging the Department of Transportation to โ€œimmediately suspendโ€ the opening and operation of the compressorย station.ย 

While Enbridge reported the gasket failure incident to DEP, local residents and town officials were not notified directly and immediately. โ€œThe company reports to the DEP, the DEP then has to notify the town, and then the town has to notify the residents. So by the time it hits the residents, [the news] is three to four hours old,โ€ Arena told WBUR. As the town of Weymouth notedย inย a comment on aย Facebook post with Enbridgeโ€™s letter to DEP, โ€œwe had no notice and no way to activate our [emergency] code red notificationย system.โ€

The Weymouth compressorโ€™s gasket failure resulted in gas venting at ground level, a potentially dangerous situation that could have led to a fire or explosion had there been a spark or staticย electricity.ย 

โ€œI think itโ€™s important that everyone in the town know that theyโ€™ve already had an accident and theyโ€™re not even operating,โ€ Arena toldย DeSmog.

The incident occurred just two days ahead of the two-year anniversary of a gas system explosion in the Merrimack Valley, an area north of Boston,ย that damaged over 130 properties and caused the death of 18-year-old Leonel Rondon of Lawrence, Massachusetts. Overpressurized gas pipes led to the explosion on September 13, 2018. The owner of that gas system, Columbia Gas, has since been ordered to pay a $53 million fine and is prohibited from conducting business in the state. Eversource, another energy utility company, has agreed to purchase Columbiaโ€™s gas assets in Massachusetts for around $1ย billion.


Billboard in Weymouth, Massachusetts. Credit: Danaย Drugmand

The Weymouth compressor gasket failure also came at a time when unprecedented wildfires, worsened by the fossil fuel-driven climate crisis, are ravaging the Westernย U.S.ย 

โ€œWe are in such a climate crisis right now. Doing this now, anything to do with fossil fuels is just folly, itโ€™s ridiculous and [Enbridge] knows it,โ€ Arenaย said.

โ€œThere was never ever any need or excuse for this [compressor], other than the greed of the corporation,โ€ sheย added.

Main image: Community activists opposing the Weymouth compressor station drive by the facility on September 12, 2020, the day after its emergency shutdown and unplanned gas leak. Credit: Fore River Residents Against the Compressor Station (FRRACS) viaย Facebook

image_50427649
Dana is an environmental journalist focusing on climate change and climate accountability reporting. She writes regularly for DeSmog covering topics such as fossil fuel industry opposition to climate action, climate change lawsuits, greenwashing and false climate solutions, and clean transportation.

Related Posts

on

Major oil and gas firms are being represented by lobbyists that have given more than ยฃ300,000 in support to Keir Starmerโ€™s party.

Major oil and gas firms are being represented by lobbyists that have given more than ยฃ300,000 in support to Keir Starmerโ€™s party.
Analysis
on

Right wing YouTuber Tim Pool is the latest to own โ€˜climate peopleโ€™ with fake facts spouted by a grizzled TV oilman.

Right wing YouTuber Tim Pool is the latest to own โ€˜climate peopleโ€™ with fake facts spouted by a grizzled TV oilman.
on

Campaigners warn that the UK will face โ€œpressure from American fossil fuel interestsโ€ to slow its energy transition.

Campaigners warn that the UK will face โ€œpressure from American fossil fuel interestsโ€ to slow its energy transition.
Analysis
on

Oil patch advocate Lisa Baiton called for more extraction and less regulation at Vancouver address that didnโ€™t once mention climate change.

Oil patch advocate Lisa Baiton called for more extraction and less regulation at Vancouver address that didnโ€™t once mention climate change.