#StopLine3 And Its Westwood Connection

Westwood MA

22 August, 2021

5:27 PM

Description

#StopLine3 is a movement supporting the Ojibwe people, their community, and environmental groups in Minnesota. They have fought for six years to stop Canadian oil giant Enbridge Energy from building the massive Line 3 pipeline in Northern Minnesota. The purpose of the Line 3 pipeline would be to take oil from Canada's tar sands region to Superior, Wisconsin. The pipeline violates several treaties with the Ojibwe people that establish their right to hunt, fish, and gather along the proposed route. The pipeline would cross 200 bodies of water, including the Mississippi River, twice. The formal testimony from the Minnesota Department of Commerce in the Line 3 case relied on the work of Dr. Marie Fagan and Dr. O'Connell, who showed that Minnesota refineries currently have all the oil they need and don't use Line 3 much, so this project has very little benefit for Minnesota. But what does a pipeline in Minnesota have to do with Westwood, MA? First of all, the controversial Weymouth Compressor Station in North Weymouth, MA is less than twenty miles from our town. Like Line 3, it is operated by Enbridge, Inc. To quote the No Compressor site: "This compressor station will create air, noise, and odor problems that will affect residents in Weymouth, Quincy, Braintree, and the South Shore. Compressors pose a serious health risk, especially when in such close proximity to a dense residential area. There's also a history of catastrophic accidents at similar Compressors that could paralyze traffic, devastate our waterfront, and put residents at serious risk." Enbridge's M&N Operating Company, which is in charge of the Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline (where the Weymouth compressor is located), has an office at 8 Wilson Way in Westwood, MA. To take action to #StopLine3, go here.