Stop the Release of Respiratory Toxins & Cancer-Causing Compounds & Climate Change Contributor

As you may be aware, the third large gas blowdown in the last 3 months happened again in our community on October 8th.

Professor Nathan Philips of BU took methane measurements, and the plume was detected over Tender Loving Care daycare center in Weston and traveled into Wellesley, despite the fact that Enbridge had informed town officials that it would not enter our air space.

A number of people stood on the River Road bridge over I-95 at rush hour to express their concerns about this.

You are probably concerned too.

Comments we have heard are:

- Why was the notification of the municipalities so haphazard and on extremely short notice?

- The plume traveled quite far afield of where Enbridge said it would go. This is not surprising since meteorological conditions determine the behavior of plumes of gas.

- A daycare center was subjected to this fumigation event. This is interesting since the Department of Public Health and all of the municipalities did an assiduous job of notifying people about precautions to take when they performed aerial spraying recently for eastern equine encephalitis, but they had no oversight or involvement here. Many have said that if they had know, they would have kept their children at home instead of sending them to the day care center subjecting them to this exposure.

- Was any consideration given to capturing this release, as opposed to just 'scrubbing' it to remove the odorants? The only effect this has is to keep the public from being aware that there is odorless gas and contaminants in the air.  This seems deceptive.

Please consider writing or calling your local legislators. Ask them these same questions and share your concerns about the impact of blowdowns have on our local environment and community.

The methane they release is a major contributor to climate change, is extremely flammable and is a harmful air pollutant.

Breathing air polluted with the components of natural gas is hazardous to human health.  Natural gas contains other chemicals aside from methane, including respiratory toxins and cancer-causing compounds.

Here are their contact information. Please take a few minutes and reach out to them.

Rep. Alice Peisch
Alice.Peisch@mahouse.gov
Phone: (617) 722-2070

Senator Becca Rausch
Becca.Rausch@masenate.gov
Phone: (617) 722-1555

​​Senator Cynthia Creem
Cynthia.Creem@masenate.gov
Phone: (617) 722-1639