Enbridge’s Weymouth compressor station vented another batch of natural gas on Wednesday while crews were performing maintenance work, the latest release into the surrounding area for a facility that has drawn persistent criticism from lawmakers and locals.
Max Bergeron, a spokesperson for the energy company, said on Wednesday that crews vented 11,397 standard cubic feet of natural gas “in a controlled manner consistent with our procedures and the design of the facility.”
“During testing, we identified the need to initiate controlled venting through the compressor case vent stack, which is specifically designed to vent natural gas,” Bergeron said in a statement. “The controlled venting of natural gas is a safe and routine procedure which is part of certain maintenance activities.”
Enbridge is required to alert state and local authorities of any gas release greater than 10,000 cubic feet from the compressor station, which is a key linchpin in the company’s Atlantic Bridge pipeline infrastructure that helps ship natural gas northward to utility companies in Maine and Canada.
The facility shut down one week ago and released a small amount of gas, below the reporting limit. Enbridge declared a “force majeure” in regulatory filings, which it said was “standard practice” when a compressor becomes unavailable for service, and indicated plans to conduct maintenance work.
“Last week, we identified a need to perform maintenance on a piece of equipment and brought the compressor unit offline to do so,” Bergeron said on Wednesday. “There was a minor shipping delay for a part, and so the maintenance activities took longer than expected. Since the compressor unit was offline for a longer period of time we notified our customers that the facility would be unavailable until the maintenance was complete.”
On three prior occasions — one in April and two in September — the station released large volumes of gas amid shutdowns.
The facility, which received all necessary state and federal permits, officially launched operations in December. It has been a source of controversy for years amid concerns about its environmental and health impact. U.S. Sen. Ed Markey said last week he believes the compressor should be shuttered permanently, calling it “dangerous, unnecessary and a clear and present threat to public safety.”
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