You know what’s funny? All construction was halted in Swampscott on April 7th. SO FUNNY.

According to the Swampscott Building Dept. a developer “must strictly adhere to the contents of the approved plan” & “All pending and future Building Permit Applications must also include a Work Safety Plan or they will not be reviewed or approved.” Wonder if this process is being followed to the letter and is strictly enforced? How much power does Swampscott really wield seeing as the Governor lives there? Do the moneyed citizenry of Swampscott have more power than the riff-raff in Weymouth? I bet they do.

On April 1st, I posted here on BMG about MA construction workers (and their families) being made into human sacrifices for Gov Baker’s peer group and donors. NOTHING has changed since then, even after some of the trade unions protested. My personal issue is, of course, with the Baker-approved, unneeded Enbridge compressor still being built in Weymouth. The workers don’t follow strict COVID plans. How do I know this? The Elves see everything.

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April was busy for those of us trying to get construction of the compressor stopped in Weymouth. The Sierra club put a petition together to ask Gov Baker to stop construction of the non-essential (even in non-COVID times) project. Why are we doing this when Baker said our Mayor and Board of Health could shut it down?

Gov Charlie Baker is trying to make Weymouth shoulder the burden of stopping a multi-national, billion dollar company’s construction of an unneeded gas transmission compressor. Enbridge would likely sue Weymouth off the map if our small and currently overwhelmed Board of Health tried to shut it down.

We need Baker’s unequivocal backing on a construction shutdown order, or for Baker to SHUT CONSTRUCTION DOWN himself — which he absolutely can. He’s leaving ALL MA construction workers and their families exposed… for what? Wealth over health.

Stopping compressor construction doesn’t just benefit Weymouth: the workers are staying in Braintree and Rockland extended stay facilities, putting staff at those facilities at risk. Tell Baker he must stop the Weymouth Compressor construction to protect the safety of workers & communities. Please sign the Sierra Club petition here.

Here’s a sick twist, as relayed by Fore River Residents Against the Compressor Station:

In addition to concerns related to the ongoing pandemic, we recently learned that Enbridge came back to town with a blood money offer of $10 million. You may remember Enbridge coming to town four years ago with an offer of $47 million (half of which was predicated on a legislative tax change.). The community rallied and urged the Town not to accept the blood money offer. The Town of Weymouth quickly declined the deal and began filing appeals against Enbridge. We strongly believe that no amount of money is worth the health and safety of our community. 

Other news from this month:

Joe Kennedy III wrote directly to Baker, which I greatly enjoyed as Baker never gets called out

Senator Markey interviewed FRRACS’s president, Alice Arena about what’s going on

FRRACS has many actions coming up, go here to see what’s next.

Car Parade is tomorrow! I love car parades. I open my windows and sunroof, and blast We Will Rock You, because: