The Mayor’s Office sent this out yesterday regarding a scheduled release of odorized natural gas:To support its ongoing efforts to address various anomalies on its pipeline in Needham and Wellesley, Algonquin Gas will be releasing odorized natural gas and performing maintenance work at its valve site near Walnut Street in Wellesley and Quinobequin Road in Newton. The releases are scheduled to occur between Sunday, August 18th and Saturday, August 31st. The same protocol followed earlier this year, including notifications to local landowners, will be followed. If you have any questions during these activities, please do not hesitate to call the Westwood operations office at 781-329-3750 or the Spectra Energy Gas Control 24 hour call line at 1-800-726-8383. As always, please let us know if you have any questions or require additional information. Much appreciated! JonJon N. BonsallKeegan Werlin, LLP99 High Street, Ste 29Boston, MA 02110617-951-1400 (phone)617-951-1354 (fax)
Crazy Divers: Men be like...
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Algonquin Pipeline LLC (aka Spectra, aka Enbridge) had two unexpected pipeline failures in the last week (Thursday and Saturday) on the high pressure transmission Algonquin line that goes along I-95 through Needham, Newton, and Weston.
The company sent out “critical” notices on these events and declared a Force Majeure, which is an “unforseeable circumstance”. No further information about what happened last week or in other of the “various anomalies”.
Enbridge had a similar transmission pipeline explode three weeks ago in Kentucky, killing one person with a 30-acre blast zone. Enbridge/Spectra has a troubling safety record on its oil and gas pipelines.
(Thank you, btw, Amy, for posting this.)
A blanket 2-week license to vent raw gas at high pressure – in which Enbridge expects people to hear and smell the releases – is not acceptable. Research is building on the toxicity of uncombusted natural gas, which has over 100 volatile organic compounds, including documented neurotoxins and carcinogens for which no lower safe limit exists. We have a number of health professionals in Newton and Wellesley who are leading the research on this, including some contributors to this recent report: https://concernedhealthny.org/compendium/
At a minimum the public deserves to know dates and times of planned releases and expected volumes of release, so people can decide whether to stay or leave during the releases. Secondly, the public has a right to know more about the nature and frequency of the “various anomalies” mentioned in the Algonquin notice.
Does this mean that during an entire 2 week period, natural gas is being released and nobody knows when? Is this dangerous?
@Newton Runner – Unfortunately, I did not get a chance to get in touch with the contact listed above today but maybe someone else (particularly one of the aldercritters or someone from the Health Department) can provide more specific information.
City staff have been working hard to get more info in relation to a query I sent them and shared this:
New Information on Algonquin/Enbridge Gas Releases:
The first gas release from the Quinobequin valve is currently slated to begin at 11AM on Sunday, Aug. 18th and last for 6-7 hours. The final release will be during line refilling when maintenance work is completed sometime before Saturday, August 31. Algonquin will notify the City when that second date is chosen.