3rd “Unplanned Release” of NatGas at Weymouth Compressor Station
This is not good. The Weymouth compressor, the final piece of the $452 million Atlantic Bridge expansion project experienced a third “unplanned release” of natural gas yesterday. No word yet on how much gas was released or why. The project is already under an intense microscope with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) threatening to shut it down after only went online in January (see FERC Considers Canceling Already Built/Running Weymouth Compressor).
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Talk about using a sledgehammer to kill a fly. The two U.S. Senators from Massachusetts, Elizabeth “Pocahontas” Warren and Ed “Lackey” Markey, have reintroduced a bill that would ban the use of compressor stations along natural gas pipelines if those pipelines happen to export some of the gas flowing through them to Canada or Mexico. Do these idiots understand how much gas is imported and exported with Canada and Mexico every single day? That they propose to shut down all of it, simply so they can shut down a single compressor station in Weymouth, Mass., is sick and twisted…
Republican U.S. Senators (at least a few) have noticed the alarming situation at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) under new Chairman Richard “Dick” Glick. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Sen. John Barrasso is questioning FERC over its recent decision to reconsider whether or not the Weymouth, Mass. compressor station should have been approved. That’s after the station has been up and running with no problems. It is not right for a new administration to reopen an already-approved (under a different administration) project and threaten to cancel it. It’s not fair nor right in anybody’s book. It’s lawless. Sen. Barrasso tells FERC it has some splainin’ to do. 
There’s nothing like changing the rules of the game after the game is done and over. Sounds like something a petulant child would do, but in this case the petulant child is the Democrat-controlled Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) potentially rewriting rules (after the game was played) in an attempt to shut down a brand new, state-of-the-art, fully functional compressor station that’s delivering 133 MMcf/d (million cubic feet per day) of extra natural gas supply to New England and beyond. Welcome to the dystopian world of Joe Biden and Dick Glick.
Early last week MDN shared the great news that Enbridge’s Weymouth, Mass. compressor station finally, after years of government delays in building it, went online (see 
Members of the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America (INGAA) announced yesterday a set of climate change commitments that outline in detail its mission to help address climate change, including working together as an industry towards reaching net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from natural gas transmission and storage by 2050. INGAA members pledging to hit that target include the biggest pipeline companies in the M-U, including Williams, Kinder Morgan, and Enbridge.
Finally! The Weymouth compressor station, the final piece of the $452 million Atlantic Bridge expansion project that has been years in the making, is either now online and flowing gas, or will be within a day or two at most. However, given a vote last week by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) questioning whether or not enough consideration was given to protesting antis, a cloud remains as to how long (in a Biden-controlled FERC) the compressor will remain online.
Et tu, Brute? Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Commissioner Neil Chatterjee, a Republican who used to work for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, is showing his true swamp-dwelling colors. On Tuesday Chatterjee voted against several critical natural gas projects (ones he voted in favor of previously), including a vote against allowing the Weymouth, MA compressor station, fully built, tested and ready to start, to begin operations.
Two weeks ago MDN reported that Enbridge, builder of the Weymouth, Massachusetts compressor station, said the compressor would come online Dec. 4 (see 
On Monday MDN brought you the exciting news that Enbridge’s Weymouth compressor station project, the final piece of the $452 million Atlantic Bridge expansion project, has received permission from the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) to begin operations “in early December” (see 
In September MDN brought you the news that pipeline company Enbridge is building a solar farm to provide electricity to power (in part) a Texas Eastern Transmission Pipeline Company (TETCO) compressor station in Hunterdon County, New Jersey, which is a first (see 
“It’s dangerous! It’s a killer! It will flow evil, nasty fracked gas! It’ll explode and kill everyone within a mile, and if it doesn’t explode, emissions from the plant will poison everyone around it anyway!” Those are the faux arguments used by radicals in Weymouth, Massachusetts to smear a compressor station built by Enbridge. All of those arguments have just magically disappeared. The price tag to make it happen? Enbridge will pay $10 million now, and $28 million later, for a grand total of $38 million.
Anti-fossil fuel nutters believe they have an opening to try and bully the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) into de-certifying a fully permitted and ready-to-start compressor station in Weymouth, Massachusetts because of an “emergency” release of a few puffs of natural gas during final testing of the facility.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, located in Massachusetts, has ruled that Enbridge, builder of the Weymouth compressor station, can keep a previously-issued state permit for the station, a permit that allows it to operate. This is the final humiliation and defeat of rabid anti-fossil fuelers who dedicated themselves to blocking the plant.