DEM holds public hearing on compressor station - But don't expect much to happen

“This hearing is not intended as a means of providing a forum for discussion or debate, and it is not a question and answer session.”

Fossil fuel energy corporation Enbridge wants to expand the fracked gas pipeline running under the Sakonnet River and renew its operating permit for the Burrillville Compressor Station, a toxic pipeline compressor station in the northwest corner of Rhode Island. I covered opposition to this plan here.

The Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (RIDEM) held public testimony on the renewal of the compressor station permit last night. An operating permit consolidates all applicable air pollution control requirements for the stationary source into a single federally enforceable document and clarifies all applicable requirements including emission limitations, and operating, monitoring, testing, recordkeeping, and reporting requirements.

Around 20 people showed up to testify in person. As usual, the scope of the meeting was tightly restricted so that the bigger issues of climate change and expanding fossil fuel use were ignored and only testimony about compliance with applicable state and federal air pollution control regulations was given any weight. As RIDEM officials running the meeting noted, “This hearing is not intended as a means of providing a forum for discussion or debate, and it is not a question and answer session.”

Below are edited transcriptions of two of the eight people who testified against the permit. No one testified in favor. [Thank you to Climate Action RI’s Katherine Sochacka for recording the hearing for me.]

Sue Kelly:

“I don't know if you have this yet. It's from the science journal GeoHealth, published in December 2023, so it's very recent. The piece notes that all measuring of anything from compressor stations is inadequate, and needs to be more frequent and to consider more chemicals, VOCs, and particulate matter than it currently does. That's one study. All studies, whether it's from Physicians for Social Responsibility or the Environmental Health Project, comment on the dangers of compressor stations - whether it's the noise or what they're emitting - everything about them is dangerous to anybody who lives nearby.

“What the companies need to do, Enbridge included, is prove the safety [of compressor stations] to us before DEM approves them. It is time for fossil fuel companies to pay for the damage they have created.

“Let me tell you a personal story.

“I lived in West Virginia when fracking came in. I found out recently that the Physicians for Social Responsibility did a study on what's happened with PFAS in West Virginia. They are in everybody's drinking water at levels far exceeding anything safe. They also opened up a treatment factory in Fairmont, West Virginia to take the chemicals they produced out of the water. They couldn't. The factory was shut down because it could not do what they planned it to do. It is now so radioactive the radioactive level cannot be measured.

“This was from not looking ahead and allowing things to be approved before we fully understand them. If you live near one of those things, whether it's going to be respiratory health, liver cancer, lung cancer, brain cancer, or kids having endocrine upsets that bother them for the rest of their lives, anybody living near a compressor station is risking their health. That goes without saying.

“We are supposed to go fossil fuel-free by 2030. Passing any permit at this point gives tacit approval to continue poisoning the citizens of Rhode Island and it gives tacit approval to fossil fuels forever. We have to stop them someplace. This is not a bad place to start and I urge you to not have the blood of your fellow citizens on your hands by approving this permit.”

Nick Katkevich:

“I'm an organizer with the Sierra Club. I'm also friends with Kathy Martley from Burrillville BASE, who's been resisting this compressor station for the past 10 years. Kathy couldn't make it tonight and wanted me to share that she lives right next to the compressor station. There are neighbors on that road that smell gas coming from the facility, and that's been happening for several years. Is there any way for the RIDEM to address that?

“It's important to know that all fracked gas that comes into Rhode Island and southeast Massachusetts passes through Burrillville. There are two compressor stations in Burrillville and there's an existing power plant. Outside of this permit, DEM needs to invest in air monitoring in Burrillville. It's the hub of fossil fuel infrastructure for Rhode Island, so why isn't there air testing or air monitoring happening?

“Another thing Kathy Martly mentioned is the blowdown. For folks who aren't familiar - every so often compressor stations have to release a huge amount of gas to relieve the pressure in the pipeline, and it can sound like an earthquake or a giant explosion. Sometimes people hide in their houses. And there's no warning given of when that's going to happen. These are releases of a huge amount of methane. This is something Kathy and Burrillville BASE have been asking about for years - there have to be warnings, or at least some sort of notice that this is going to happen and there hasn't been. Is that something that can be added to the permit?

“As has been said, all of us in this room know what's happening with the fossil fuel industry. We know we can’t trust them. We all know that all life on this planet is threatened by this industry. My ask is for you all at DEM to be courageous, bold, and creative in thinking about how to take on this industry and writing in a phase-out of this permit or writing in that DEM is very concerned about future expansions. There needs to be a plan to close this compressor station. The compressor station emits over 50,000 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent gasses a year. It's a huge emitter of greenhouse gases.

“The permit is inadequate and needs to be rejected as it is and amended. In March of this year, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized new methane regulations for fugitive methane regulations. It's a 2,000-page document, but there are sections in there specifically for compressor stations. Compressor stations need to add new equipment to reduce fugitive methane emissions, and that's not reflected in Enbridge's permit. Then, under the Inflation Reduction Act, they added new fees for methane coming from compressor stations. The fees apply if there are over 25,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent a year. And as I just said, this facility emits over 50,000 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent per year. I can submit those comments written and in fine detail because it's pretty technical, but I would argue that this permit, since it doesn't acknowledge these new regulations needs to be sent back to Enbridge or needs to be amended by DEM to include those new federal regulations.

“One other thing from Kathy is that wetlands are being impacted here. I know this is an air permit, but when Enbridge did previous work on that facility, it cracked a bunch of people's wells in the neighborhood and they had to drill new wells for their houses.

“Thinking of all the impacts of this facility, and thinking about the climate legislation in Rhode Island, I'm urging the DEM to be proactive and protect this community that's been resisting the fossil fuel industry since the eighties when the Ocean State Power Plant was built up that way. There was a huge movement in Burrillville to stop it. The State of Rhode Island needed to pass a law to force that power plant into Burrillville in the eighties and then they built the Tennessee Gas Pipeline compressor station immediately adjacent to it. There was a big protest movement in Burrillville to stop it.

“Many of us in this room protested it for years. They expanded it once, but the second expansion was stopped. And then, of course, there's the energy power plant that they wanted to build, which was in total disregard of this community. Fortunately, that facility was stopped. With this history of resistance to the fossil fuel industry, of residents constantly saying no, DEM needs to take that into account as a state institution reflecting the residents of this town. That would be proactive - to do all you can to put new things into this permit, or reject it as other people said, and do Laurie whatever you can to protect this community.”