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Derek Seidman
@derekseidman80
, 15 tweets, 8 min read Read on Twitter
1/ The Massachusetts DEP is holding a hearing tomorrow on a permit for the Weymouth compressor station - which has faced intense opposition from groups like @MothersOutFront & @FRRACS_MA.

Their efforts to stop the compressor station are gaining momentum.
bostonglobe.com/metro/2019/05/…
2/ MA Gov Charlie Baker can stop the compressor station. And residents have made clear the health concerns around it - not to mention that the larger fracked gas export infrastructure it's part of will lock in new CO2 emissions for decades to come.
wbur.org/earthwhile/201…
3/ Journalist @itai_vardi has shown that there is undisclosed evidence of carcinogens around the project, too.
desmogblog.com/2019/05/08/und…
4/ Despite all this, Baker hasn't committed to shutting down the compressor station. It's important to know that Baker is enmeshed in web of influence - campaign finance, lobbying, social ties - that stretches from the corporate power behind Weymouth to the Governor's office.
5/Here's a slideshow map of some of those ties: littlesis.org/maps/3949-web-…
6/ For example, Baker has taken $133,625 over the past decade from Eversource, a partial owner of the compressor station. This include $25k in January 2019 to Baker's inaugural committee.

ocpf.us/Reports/Search…
7/Eversource also has powerful board members tied to major corporations that give big to Baker.

littlesis.org/maps/3949-web-…
8/ Eversource's CEO also sits on the MA Competitive Partnership - a small CEO council of the state's most powerful corporations (a few with Eversource board ties) that supports expanding MA's gas infrastructure - masscompetes.org/about-us

commonwealthmagazine.org/energy/states-…
9/ Eversource is set to profit doubly as both owner and customer of the Atlantic Bridge project. See what my colleague @RobGalbraithLS wrote.

news.littlesis.org/2019/01/14/fiv…
10/@itai_vardi has also showed that top lobbyists & lawyers (e.g., Stephen Tocco, Bill Weld) tied to Weymouth are extremely cozy with Baker: desmogblog.com/2017/02/28/mas…
11/ Also, as mentioned above, Baker is very cozy w/ powerful lawyers & lobbyists w/ a top firm (Mintz/ML Strategies) that represents the interests behind Weymouth.

Baker has also taken close to $100K from Mintz/ML Strategies. This includes $10K to his 2019 inauguration.
12/ To repeat: the power players tied to Mintz/ML Strategies are VERY close to Baker.

Weld, Robinson, Baker - they have long & close histories w/ Baker, and their firm has been paid tens of thousands by Spectra to make Weymouth/Atlantic Bridge happen.

littlesis.org/maps/3949-web-…
13/ Example of just one year's payments - a cool $132K -from Spectra to the Baker-tied Weld-Robinson-Tocco group at ML Strategies.

MA lobbying filings are easy to look up and can be found here: sec.state.ma.us/LobbyistPublic…
14/ The #Weymouth compressor station hearings at the @MassGov DEP are happening this morning. Follow groups like @MothersOutFront & @FRRACS_MA for updates.
"Emissions from this dangerous and dirty fossil fuel infrastructure will threaten the health and safety of the children of the Fore River Basin and beyond," said Anne Goodwin, one of the leaders of @MothersOutFront 's Massachusetts chapter." wgbh.org/news/local-new…
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Itai Vardi
@itai_vardi
THREAD on my latest #Enbridge compressor station in #Weymouth story. In testimony, MassDEP's air official Glenn Keith cited my reporting showing DEP conducted *undisclosed* air samplings in the Fore River Basin, which found elevated levels of carcinogens and other pollutants. 1/7
Keith says the results, analyzed by a RI lab, were emailed to a low level DEP staffer on Dec. 26, '18 (left). This directly contradicts DEP's version in April, that they received the results AFTER the HIA was published (i.e. early January '19) (right) desmogblog.com/2019/04/18/air… 2/7
Keith then seems to throw the staffer under the bus, saying he personally received the results only on January 4, '19, the day the HIA was published, and did not know the DEP received them ten days earlier. 3/7
Read 8 tweets
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Itai Vardi
@itai_vardi
1. Another THREAD on Enbridge's #Weymouth, MA compressor station. Internal MassDEP documents point to other problematic issues with the Health Impacts Assessment (HIA) Massachusetts conducted for the station (which I couldn't fit in my recent article 👇). desmogblog.com/2019/04/18/air…
2. Take a look at the following paragraph from the HIA report (page 85). The average reader will reasonably conclude that MassDEP conducted chromatography air monitoring for four pollutants (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene, a.k.a. BTEX) for four months (Aug-Nov)
3. and only Benzene spiked. But take a closer look at the HIA appendix (from page 70): it shows that while benzene was indeed measured during the four month period (Aug-Nov), toluene was measured only during Aug-Oct and ethylbenzene & xylene only during October. So what happened?
Read 13 tweets
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Itai Vardi
@itai_vardi
1. THREAD on my latest #Weymouth compressor station revelation. Last year Massachusetts conducted a Health Impacts Assessment (HIA), ordered by @MassGovernor Baker, to evaluate Enbridge's 7,700 HP station's effects on the densely-populated area. desmogblog.com/2019/04/18/air…
2. As part of the HIA, @MassDEP conducted air sampling to establish baseline conditions in the Fore River Basin, and sent the sampling canisters to a private lab for analysis. The lab found most chemicals it tested for to be below state limits on air pollution.
3. The HIA thus concluded the station will not affect human health through direct exposure to the station's emissions - and the DEP issued Enbridge an air permit shortly after. But documents I obtained this week through an open records request paints a very troubling picture.
Read 12 tweets
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Andrea Honore
@grumpygrumpyowl
@wgbhnews What a fantastic podcast, & not b/c I was mentioned, I swear. Honest look at @CharlieBakerMA's record on certain things... the part I'm interested in is his handling of state responsibility re: compressor permitting, AND... 1/
@wgbhnews @CharlieBakerMA ... @CharlieBakerMA ignoring a "model protester" for 82 days as I waited for him to take action re: compressor on state level. I sat in his office as he'd ignored Weymouth for 2 yrs running up to my action. TWO YEARS. Blog for my action is here: sitwithandrea.wordpress.com 2/
@wgbhnews @CharlieBakerMA As you can see, it took A LOT to get him to take any action. He kept saying "it's a Federal issue". There is a Federal component to the #weymouthMA permitting process. Normally @FERC has the last word. Not so in our case: @MassCZM has the last last word. 3/
Read 14 tweets
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Steve Herman
@W7VOA
#Massachusetts
This appears out of control:
Update: At least 39 gas explosions and fires north of Boston.
Read 5 tweets
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Itai Vardi
@itai_vardi
1/ The @MassDEP yesterday denied charges of conflicts of interest against a specialist hired by @Enbridge to oversee cleanup of a contaminated site for its proposed compressor station in #Weymouth
2/ even though Kelley Race of @TRC_Companies has been working on the project for both @enbridge and Calpine for nearly two years, current conflict of interest rules allow her to also provide cleanup services as a state-certified Licensed Site Professional
3/ Technically, the DEP is correct. According to its current rules, an LSP is not conflicted - unless they work for more than *one* interested party in a cleanup. But the case highlights the inherent, structural conflict of interest in the privatized toxic cleanup program
Read 16 tweets

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