Weymouth Compressor Coming Back Online After Apr 6 Shutdown
On April 6 the Weymouth, Mass. compressor station experienced its third “unplanned release” of methane and was shut down (see 3rd “Unplanned Release” of NatGas at Weymouth Compressor Station). The builder and owner, Enbridge, has alerted the state it will likely vent more natural gas between tomorrow and May 5th as it restarts operations at the plant. We’re glad the plant is restarting again. We had our doubts.
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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. 
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.
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.
Last week MDN told you that Enbridge had begun testing its Weymouth, Massachusetts compressor station project, the final piece of the company’s $452 million Atlantic Bridge expansion project (see 
Enbridge’s Weymouth compressor station project, the final piece of the $452 million Atlantic Bridge expansion project, has begun testing in preparation to go online. As part of the testing, the station will, on occasion, release a small amount of (gasp!) natural gas into the air. Run for the hills! Get out while you can!
In early June an Obamadroid federal judge vacated a permit for the Weymouth compressor station, the last piece of Spectra Energy/Enbridge’s Atlantic Bridge pipeline project–a project which took years to build (see 
Spectra Energy’s Algonquin Incremental Market (AIM) pipeline project is an $876 million expansion of the existing Algonquin pipeline system designed to carry 342 million cubic feet of natural gas per day to New England states that badly need the gas. On March 3, 2015, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued its final approval for the project, allowing the project to go forward. Construction began in 2015 and, following extreme opposition from New York State over a small portion of the project, it finally went online in 2016.
WOW, what a reversal of fortune! Barely a month ago MDN told you that two natural gas utility companies, National Grid and Eversource, had cut the legs out from under Enbridge by declaring they no longer need the Weymouth (Mass.) compressor station to supply them with incrementally more natural gas supplies for the Greater Boston area (see 
With friends like these, who needs enemies? Two utility companies–National Grid and Eversource, both operating in Massachusetts–are the primary customers for the gas that flows through the Spectra Energy/Enbridge Atlantic Bridge pipeline project. The last piece of that project is to build a compressor station in Weymouth, MA. National Grid and Eversource now say the Weymouth compressor is not necessary–they have enough gas without it. Thanks guys! You just screwed Enbridge royally.