Boston University Professor Nathan Phillips didn't eat for two weeks to raise awareness to serious climate implications he says are related to a compressor station sited in Weymouth. He had three demands during his hunger strike: that more is done to decontaminate trucks leaving the site ; that the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) test old burner bricks on the property for asbestos; and that the state install a permanent air monitor near the site.
Of those demands, the state has so far only committed to installing an air monitor near the site. Phillips joined Boston Public Radio on Thursday to discuss what's next.
"This is an issue that affects the Fore River communities, but also affects all of the Commonwealth and beyond, because this compressor station is a carbon bomb," he said.
The station, which received final approval in November 2019, and is now under construction, will connect two natural gas pipelines. Phillips said the impact of this will bring the "equivalent to 1 million motor vehicles per year worth of car emissions."
Phillips also said as long as the station is under construction, the state should be more aggressive in dealing with environmental impacts immediately, like from possible asbestos contamination and contamination from construction vehicles.
He ended the strike after two weeks, when the state committed to a temporary air monitor, but said there needs to be more urgency around climate considerations of the project, and he called on the state's top official Governor Charlie Baker to speak out against the station. Baker has said in the past he had no control over the permitting of the compressor station, given federal rules and the results of a state-authorized review.
