Underground Construction - March 2022 - 14

Washington Watch
commission's 2017 approval of the Weymouth compressor
station outside Boston. It is part of the Atlantic Bridge Project
jointly owned by Algonquin Gas Transmission and Maritimes
& Northeast Pipeline.
Environmental groups twice tried to convince FERC to stop
the project while it was under construction. These appeals were
denied. But a re-hearing request submitted in October 2020 by
opponents, did bear fruit. On Feb. 18, 2021, at the start of the
Biden administration, FERC issued an order stating that the
concerns expressed in the rehearing request, as well as in other
submitted comments, warranted further consideration and ordered
a " briefing paper. "
However, on Jan. 22, 2022, the commission rejected environmentalist
and community activist concerns that the compressor,
now in operation, was a danger to local minority communities,
due to air emissions and two blowdowns occurring soon after
the compressor station went into operation, in September 2020.
In its final order, the commissioners stated: " Parties have
not identified - and we have not found - any violations of the
Certificate Order. Moreover, neither EPA nor Massachusetts
DEP, the latter of which oversees compliance with the Clean
Air Act within the state, has found that the Applicants have exceeded
the emissions limits specified in their air permit. There
is not sufficient record evidence of blowdown-related health
effects to reasonably support the remedies Petitioners seek. "
While pipeline opponents took it on the chin in this proceeding,
with the commission calling their objections empty,
the final order should give pipelines reason for concern.
First, Glick noted in his statement that the commission
" likely erred " in its original 2017 decision to site the Weymouth
compressor " where it did, " because the location is home to two
environmental justice communities.
" I hope that this proceeding will serve as a turning point for
the Commission as we work to better consider, address and act
on issues of environmental justice, " he added.
Second, Commissioner James Danly argued that the commission
had not provided a clear rationale for issuing the
February 2021 briefing paper, writing " ...the Commission cannot
absolve itself of the fact that the Briefing Order unlawfully
reopened a final, non-appealable certificate. "
He complained that the Democratic majority failed to provide
" a clear and thorough explanation of its authority. Instead,
the majority sends parties on a scavenger hunt - dispersing
snippets here and there: sometimes in the text; sometimes in
a footnote; sometimes with citations but most of the times
not - never addressing the arguments or precedent that the
Commission lacked authority to issue the Briefing Order. "
Danly's point, of course, is the Democratic-majority FERC
could issue another briefing order, in the future, seeking to unwind
an already-approved pipeline project. *
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Underground Construction - March 2022

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