By Mary Whitfill 

Local election results are in.

The South Shore’s races for county positions, seats in the Legislature and congressional representation were all but decided Tuesday night despite a race for president that continues to drag on. 

More than 330,000 voters cast ballots on the South Shore on or before Election Day. Democratic candidates were largely victorious with the exception of several Republican incumbents. Historically, the South Shore splits the ticket in state and local races. But all but two local towns voted majority Democrat this time around.

U.S. Reps. Stephen Lynch Lynch defeated Stoughton’s Jon Lott, an independent candidate, 246,612 votes to 59,058, with 82 percent of precincts reporting.

“From the beginning of this campaign, I knew this election would be an uphill battle,” Lott said in a post-election statement. “I would like to sincerely congratulate Congressman Stephen Lynch on another clear victory. I know he is an honest and dedicated public servant, and I respect and wish the best for him going forward.”

There were no surprises in the elections for local seats in the state House of Representatives. All eight of the South Shore’s incumbents up for reelection won their races.

Democrats Ronald Mariano and Mark Cusack held on to their seats.

Norfolk County sheriff

Democrat Patrick McDermott managed to unseat sitting Norfolk County Sheriff Jerry McDermott (no relation) in one of the region’s most heated contests this election cycle. Patrick McDermott said his challenger called to concede the race Tuesday night and the two discussed a plan for the transition.

“It’s not like the Legislature, where there’s a break,” he said. “We have to keep the jail running.”

Patrick McDermott said he wants to make sure there’s a continuity of service, programming and public safety during the transition. He said he will do a full review of the Norfolk County jail to see what programming stays and what goes.

The 2020 race was a special election that will fill the final two years of former Sheriff Michael Bellotti’s term, who stepped down in 2018 to become the president of Quincy College. Gov. Charlie Baker appointed Jerry McDermott to the seat until the special election could be held. Another election in 2022 will fill a full, six-year-term.

Patrick McDermott said he will run again in 2022 for the full six-year term.

“No doubt in my mind,” he said.

By Douglas Hook

Rep. Stephen Lynch won by landslide for his seat in the U.S. House of Representatives against Independent challenger Jonathan Lott.

Shortly before 1:02 a.m., Lynch sealed his win with 80.73% of the vote compared to Lott’s 19.27%. The Associated Press called the election with 72.51% of the total vote counted.

With 215,151 votes so far for Lynch, to Lott’s 51,360, AP called the race at 1:02 a.m. with 182 precincts counted of 251.

Lynch, previously served in the Massachusetts House and state Senate, has served in Congress since 2001. A former ironworker and union leader, Lynch later became a labor and employment attorney from Boston College Law School and is facing a challenge by the Independent candidate Lott.

In addition to spearheading efforts to get PPE to hospitals, community health centers, nursing homes and front-line workers fighting the COVID-19 pandemic in his district, Lynch has worked to obtain grants for various programs and initiatives in his district.

This includes $2 million for seawall fortification in Quincy, $1.7 million to assist in affordable housing for low-income and first-time homebuyers and $1.5 million HUD loan Guarantee for the city’s Downtown Restaurant Infrastructure fund.

In the 2001 special election, Lynch won the District 8 seat following the death of longtime U.S. Rep. John Moakley. In 2012, District 8 was redrawn, and Lynch decided to run winning the election and winning the seat. He also ran for the Democratic nomination in the 2013 U.S. Senate election to fill the seat of former U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry but lost to U.S. Sen. Ed Markey.

Lynch is facing a challenge by Independent candidate Lott, who has majored in English and Classical Civilization from the University of Vermont. After graduating in 2014, Lott has been teaching Latin.

Lott expressed the issue with the two-party system in the U.S. stating that it has become polarizing and anti-intellectual.

“Being an independent candidate means that I don’t fully align with any political party,” said Lott on his website. “You probably won’t agree 100% with all my positions, and that’s fine. I respect that we all have diverse beliefs but coming together on common ground is much better than magnifying wedge issues to further divide us.”

Issues like desertification, food shortages, civil unrest, drought, forced migration, ocean acidification and other downstream factors are all problems he hopes to address if elected on Nov. 3.

“Politicians often claim climate change is an emergency, but none actually treat it like the existential issue it is,” Lott states.

Three-quarters of registered voters in Massachusetts cast ballots in the 2016 election in what Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin then characterized as “record turnout.”

In 2016, 3.4 million people voted out of 4.5 million registered voters, representing a turnout of 75%. That beat turnout levels in each of the last two presidential election years, both of which were 73%.

However, 2020 saw more than 3.6 million ballots in the presidential election, breaking the record, said Galvin.

By Shannon Dooling, WBUR Reporter

Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley is asking US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for more information about an incident last Tuesday afternoon (Oct. 6) involving a Black man who was stopped by ICE officers while jogging in West Roxbury.

Bena Apreala, a Boston native, said he was jogging on VFW Parkway when two SUVs with tinted windows approached, one blocking the sidewalk in front of him and the other pulling up next to him along the street. He said the officers did not identify themselves as law enforcement before questioning him about his identity.

“These guys just hopped out in full camouflage uniforms with masks over their faces, and stopped me, and told me to immediately identify [myself],” he said. “I was confused as to whether or not they were even legitimate authority.”

“When I saw the badge and asked them if they were ICE officers, and they said yes, I explained that I wasn’t an immigrant, I’m born and raised in Boston, and that I have no idea what they’re stopping me for. They said that immigration isn’t the only thing that they investigate and proceeded to question me,” Apreala said.

A Boston police spokesman said the officers “are not members of BPD.”

Apreala said he was not carrying identification while running but he did provide the men with his full name and address. “There was a number of families walking down the street, people who were not Black, and they singled me out to stop me,” he added.

In the letter addressed to Tony Pham, ICE senior official performing the duties of director, Pressley expressed her concerns over what she calls the Trump administration’s efforts to terrorize immigrants and implement its “xenophobic agenda.” Pressley says the unlawful questioning of Bena Apreala is the latest troubling example of Trump’s approach.

“This incident has understandably left many in our community fearful of a potential uptick in ICE presence and a possible increase in ICE agents’ enforcement activities in unmarked vehicles,” she wrote in the letter. “Mr. Apreala’s encounter also raises serious questions about whether ICE officers are using enforcement investigations to engage in racial profiling and stop and frisk policing in our communities.”

Citing the deployment of federal US Customs and Border Protection tactical teams into cities like Boston, Pressley called Trump’s actions a pattern of “escalated hostilities targeting cities throughout the country who uphold the safety and humanity of our immigrant neighbors.”

After confirming it was indeed ICE officers who stopped Apreala, the ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations office released a statement on Oct. 7, saying the officers believed Apreala matched the description of a previously deported Haitian national who ICE says is wanted on criminal drug trafficking charges.

The ICE statement did dispute one part of Apreala’s version of events, claiming the officers did identify themselves when they approached him.
US Senators Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren, along with US representatives Stephen Lynch and Pressley, sent a separate letter to ICE leadership  expressing concerns over the legality of ICE’s actions in West Roxbury and asking for more details about ICE’s interaction with Apreala, and data on ICE stops in the Boston area, by Oct. 15.

Apreala said he plans to file a formal complaint with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Boston City Councillor Matt O’Malley, who represents West Roxbury, called the stop “unlawful” and said he would address the issue with federal representatives. 

As Apreala was walking away, one of the men is heard on the video asking him whether he has tattoos on his arms, requesting that Apreala roll up his sleeves. “Am I free to go?” he asked. “Do I have to show you? If I’m free to go, then I’m not showing you anything.”

This story was first published by WBUR 90.9FM on Oct. 7. The Reporter and WBUR share content through a media partnership.

By State House News Service

Investigators still have not determined what triggered an automatic shutdown and natural gas release at the Weymouth compressor station on Wednesday, and Congressman Stephen Lynch said the Federal Bureau of Investigation will be asked for assistance.

After a tour of the facility, whose operations are paused under federal orders prompted by two recent incidents, Lynch said that the FBI will need to be involved because the compressor is part of pipeline infrastructure that stretches into Canada.

The first emergency shutdown on Sept. 11 was implemented manually after a gasket failure, but the second one on Sept. 30 occurred automatically, and the causes behind it remain unclear.

“In our discussions with the agencies in Washington, D.C., they seem to think — and this was mentioned on our tour a little earlier — they seem to think it was electronic or electrical in nature,” Lynch said at a press conference, according to audio provided by his office. “The switching system here is a network system, so because this is an international pipeline and because of the national security implications, the FBI has been asked to take a look at any possible cyberintrusion that might have triggered that release.”

The congressman said his office has not had any conversations with the FBI, stressing that “there aren’t a lot of answers right now.”

Energy giant Enbridge had been planning to place the controversial project into service by Thursday, but after two emergency shutdowns in less than three weeks released a combined 444,000 cubic feet of natural gas into the air, the company halted operations at the site.

The federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration ordered Enbridge to keep the facility offline until the company meets all the conditions laid out in a corrective action order, including a root cause analysis of both incidents.

In the order issued Thursday, PHMSA Associate Administrator for Pipeline Safety Alan Mayberry wrote that continued operation without immediate fixes “would be hazardous to life, property, or the environment.”

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Sept. 24 — after the first shutdown and before the second — approved Enbridge’s request to start service by Oct. 1.

Lynch and a group of Massachusetts lawmakers and local officials who represent the region toured the site on Friday.

Elected leaders and community groups have vocally opposed the project for years, unsuccessfully calling for Gov. Charlie Baker’s administration to block permits because of the site’s location near densely populated neighborhoods and because of its potential health and environmental impacts.

“There’s very little margin for error here because of the proximity of so many homes, lots of children in this area,” Lynch said. “The consequences could be dire if the worst happens here.”

The group also received a briefing, according to company spokesperson Max Bergeron.

“While initial indications are there were no conditions which would have necessitated an (emergency shutdown) on September 30, once activated, the (emergency shutdown) system operated as designed and safely isolated the station and vented the natural gas in a controlled manner,” Bergeron said in an email. “As we continue to gather additional information as part of a detailed review process, we have found no issues which would affect the safety of the station.”

By Ed Baker

WEYMOUTH – U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch said two recent gas leaks at the compressor station in the Fore River Basin are proof the site is not a proper location for the controversial facility.

“On Sept. 11, there was a release of 169,000 cubic feet of natural gas,” Lynch said during a press conference at the site on Friday. “We had a second incident on Sept 30, and it involved a release of 275,000 cubic feet into the area.”

The compressor’s owner, Enbridge Inc., previously said it is investigating both incidents and the facility has ceased operation while the investigation is being done.

Lynch has requested the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to revoke its certificate of approval for the project.

Federal regulators ordered Enbridge on Thursday, Oct. 1 to investigate the gas leaks, which forced an emergency shutdown of the facility following both incidents.

Lynch said Enbridge must have an independent firm investigate the gas leaks and submit a restart plan to the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Material Safety Administration before the facility can resume operation.

“If the agency is not satisfied, they won’t issue a restart until they (Enbridge) is in full compliance,” he said.

Lynch said the FBI had been requested to look into a possible cyber intrusion for causing the gas leak on Sept. 30.

“They (Enbridge) seem to think it was electrical,” he said.

Lynch said there are plenty of questions about why the gas leaks occurred, “but not a lot of answers.

“For the communities surrounding the plant, they are losing trust,” he said. “There is no margin for error.”

Lynch said the federal Department of Transportation has identified the compressor site as a “high consequence area” if a catastrophic explosion occurred.

“You have a bridge that has thousands of cars that go over it,” he said. “It’s very heavily traveled. The DOT sees a high consequence area, and we see these fears realized.”

Lynch said State Rep. Ronald Mariano, D-Quincy, State Sen. Patrick O’Connor, R-Weymouth, and State Rep. James Murphy, D-Weymouth, plan to continue pressuring the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection and other state agencies to determine how the gas leaks occurred.

Mariano said the causes of the two gas leaks demand answers.

“As the congressman said, there are a lot of unanswered questions,” he said. “We will continue to pressure the state agencies until we get answers.”

O’Connor said the gas leaks validate the lawsuits and steps various municipal officials have taken to prevent the construction of the compressor station.

“This is something we will continue to fight,” he said. “This is not a responsible place for a natural gas compressor station infrastructure.”

Murphy said the compressor station could create a potential catastrophe that might be similar to the natural gas explosions which occurred in the Merrimack Valley, Sept. 13, 2018.

“The (recent) gas leaks give credence to that,” he said. “This is a disaster waiting to happen.”

Ted Langill, chief of staff for Weymouth Mayor Robert Hedlund, said many of the concerns the town has raised during the process are coming to fruition.

“The town has filed 22 lawsuits and spent $1.6 million in legal costs,” said Langill. “It’s disappointing the (compressor approval) process is rigged against the community. We are trying to get answers.”

Alice Arena, leader of the Fore River Residents Against the Compressor Station, said the group is grateful for Lynch’s quest to get answers about the gas leaks.

“We have been fighting this for six years, and this is a ‘we told you so moment’,” she said after the legislators’ press conference Friday. “The state regulators have refused to listen to anybody.”

By Chris Lisinski

Investigators still have not determined what triggered an automatic shutdown and natural gas release at the Weymouth compressor station on Wednesday, and Congressman Stephen Lynch said the Federal Bureau of Investigation will be asked for assistance.

After a tour of the facility, whose operations are paused under federal orders prompted by two recent incidents, Lynch said that the FBI will need to be involved because the compressor is part of pipeline infrastructure that stretches into Canada.

The first emergency shutdown on Sept. 11 was implemented manually after a gasket failure, but the second one on Sept. 30 occurred automatically, and the causes behind it remain unclear.

“In our discussions with the agencies in Washington, D.C., they seem to think — and this was mentioned on our tour a little earlier — they seem to think it was electronic or electrical in nature,” Lynch said at a press conference, according to audio provided by his office. “The switching system here is a network system, so because this is an international pipeline and because of the national security implications, the FBI has been asked to take a look at any possible cyberintrusion that might have triggered that release.”

The congressman said his office has not had any conversations with the FBI, stressing that “there aren’t a lot of answers right now.”

Energy giant Enbridge had been planning to place the controversial project into service by Thursday, but after two emergency shutdowns in less than three weeks released a combined 444,000 cubic feet of natural gas into the air, the company halted operations at the site.

The federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration ordered Enbridge to keep the facility offline until the company meets all the conditions laid out in a corrective action order, including a root cause analysis of both incidents.

In the order issued Thursday, PHMSA Associate Administrator for Pipeline Safety Alan Mayberry wrote that continued operation without immediate fixes “would be hazardous to life, property, or the environment.”

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Sept. 24 — after the first shutdown and before the second — approved Enbridge’s request to start service by Oct. 1.

Lynch and a group of Massachusetts lawmakers and local officials who represent the region toured the site on Friday.

Elected leaders and community groups have vocally opposed the project for years, unsuccessfully calling for Gov. Charlie Baker’s administration to block permits because of the site’s location near densely populated neighborhoods and because of its potential health and environmental impacts.

“There’s very little margin for error here because of the proximity of so many homes, lots of children in this area,” Lynch said. “The consequences could be dire if the worst happens here.”

The group also received a briefing, according to company spokesperson Max Bergeron.

“While initial indications are there were no conditions which would have necessitated an (emergency shutdown) on September 30, once activated, the (emergency shutdown) system operated as designed and safely isolated the station and vented the natural gas in a controlled manner,” Bergeron said in an email. “As we continue to gather additional information as part of a detailed review process, we have found no issues which would affect the safety of the station.”

Click here to watch story,

After recently receiving final approval by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, or FERC, Enbridge was scheduled to put the Weymouth Compressor Station into service Thursday, but on Wednesday there was an emergency shutdown, due to what they called a blowout.

Congressman Steve Lynch says he was told that it was a large enough accumulation of natural gas inside the facility, that it was a threat to the facility itself.

Listen here.

Crews at a natural gas compressor station in Weymouth triggered an emergency shutdown and vented an unspecified amount of natural gas Wednesday morning, marking the second such incident in three weeks.

The incident prompted new calls from Congressman Stephen Lynch to shut down the facility.

Enbridge spokesman Max Bergeron confirmed that the emergency shutdown system went into effect automatically around 10:30 a.m., which he said “safely isolated the station and vented the natural gas in a controlled manner.”

Bergeron said the company is investigating what triggered the automatic shutdown and so far has “found no issues which would affect the safety of the station.”

He declined to say how much gas was released, citing the ongoing investigation. “We have notified state and local officials, and are proceeding with safety as our priority,” Bergeron said. “We will safely place the Weymouth Compressor Station in service following the successful completion of testing and calibrating activities, once we are confident the facility is fit for service.”

On Sept. 11, workers triggered a shutdown after a gasket failure, venting up to 265,000 cubic feet of natural gas.

Thirteen days later, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission gave Enbridge final approval to start service at the station by Oct. 1.

Lynch, a longtime opponent of the project, asked for federal intervention after the incident earlier this month and called Wednesday for FERC to revoke its authorization “due to the repetitive occurrence of these extremely dangerous events.” “While additional details on this latest safety incident are still under investigation, these accidents endangered the lives of local residents and are indicative of a much larger threat that the Weymouth Compressor Station poses to Weymouth, Quincy, Abington and Braintree residents, as well as surrounding communities, by operating in such a densely residential area,” Lynch said in a statement.

Lynch said he plans to perform a walk-through of the site later this week and asked an official from the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Administration to accompany him.

By Miriam Wasser

For the second time this month, something triggered the Weymouth Natural Gas Compressor Station’s emergency shutdown system and caused an “unplanned release” of at least 10,000 standard cubic feet (scf) of natural gas into the nearby area.

The venting happened around 10:30 a.m. Wednesday and occurred in a “controlled manner,” according to the company that operates the compressor, Enbridge.

“We are gathering additional information to determine what caused the Emergency Shutdown system to activate, though we have found no issues which would indicate there was a safety concern,” Enbridge spokesman Max Bergeron said in an email.

In a letter to the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP), the company said it would “follow up with more information in 3 business days, including an estimate of the actual volume of gas released.” It is legally required to notify MassDEP and the towns around the compressor about any unplanned gas releases that exceed 10,000 scf.

But while Enbridge says it’s “proceeding with safety as our priority,” opponents of the project are furious about the lack of details and terrified about what a second shutdown before the facility even goes into operation portends for the future.

Less than three weeks ago, a gasket failure at the facilitycaused a shutdown that forced operators to vent the entire contents of the station — about 265,000 scf of gas, which includes about 35 pounds of volatile organic compounds. It remains unclear how much of that gas was vented through a tall stack and how much was released at ground level, a distinction opponents of the project say is important because gas at ground level is more likely to ignite and explode.

“We still don’t know how much they released at ground level from the first accident, and now we have a second accident?” said Alice Arena of the Fore River Residents Against The Compressor (FRRACS).

Enbridge did not respond to a question asking whether this second shutdown and subsequent release will affect the company’s plan to put the compressor into service on Thursday.

Meanwhile, some of the state’s congressional delegation said they want the relevant federal regulating agencies to delay the project’s start date. On Wednesday, Sens. Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren asked the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Administration (PHMSA) to “halt activities at the Weymouth compressor station and investigate the station’s safety.” And in a tweet Wednesday night, Markey confirmed that the agency would send someone to Weymouth “to determine why these disasters keep happening.”

Rep. Stephen Lynch, whose district includes Weymouth, also called on PHMSA to investigate.

“These accidents endangered the lives of local residents and are indicative of a much larger threat that the Weymouth Compressor Station poses to Weymouth, Quincy, Abington and Braintree residents, as well as surrounding communities, by operating in such a densely residential area,” he wrote in a statement.

Lynch said he is “demanding the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) revoke the certificate of approval for the site and suspend operations due to the repetitive occurrence of these extremely dangerous events.”

Lynch has repeatedly called on FERC to revoke the facility’s operating license.

The Weymouth Compressor, a 7,700-horsepower facility by the Fore River, is a crucial part of Enbridge’s Atlantic Bridge Project. Once operational, the compressor will allow fracked natural gas from Pennsylvania to be piped to northern New England and Canada.

By Jeremy C. Fox

The state’s two Democratic senators and a South Shore congressman called for the federal government to block the planned opening Thursday of a controversial gas compression station in Weymouth after equipment failures led to emergency shutdowns of the facility.

The Weymouth Compressor Station had a “dangerous blowout event” Wednesday morning involving its emergency shutdown system — the second safety incident at the facility this month, according to Representative Stephen F. Lynch, who represents Weymouth.

Lynch said Wednesday afternoon that officials at the facility were “in the process of ordering a temporary emergency shutdown of the station.”

The station’s emergency shutdown system was activated around 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, and the system “operated as designed and safely isolated the station and vented the natural gas in a controlled manner,” according to a spokesman for Enbridge, the Canada-based owner of the station.

“While we continue to gather additional information, we have found no issues which would affect the safety of the station,” Max Bergeron, an Enbridge spokesman at the company’s local office in Waltham, said in a statement Wednesday night. “We have notified state and local officials, and are proceeding with safety as our priority. There was no risk to public safety as a result of this event.”

Lynch said the “accidents endangered the lives of local residents and are indicative of a much larger threat that the Weymouth Compressor Station poses to Weymouth, Quincy, Abington and Braintree residents, as well as surrounding communities, by operating in such a densely residential area.”

Separately Wednesday, Senators Elizabeth Warren and Edward J. Markey asked a federal regulator to block the opening of the station and “conduct a thorough review of [an earlier] natural gas leak and the station’s ongoing activities.”

The station was in the process of “commissioning activities” in preparation for its opening when a gasket failed and pressurized gas was released on Sept. 11, leading a worker to manually trigger an emergency shutdown system, according to a letter to regulators from Enbridge.

“The quantity of natural gas released during the gas leak emergency was equivalent to the average daily natural gas consumption of more than 930 Massachusetts homes,” Warren and Markey wrote in their letter to the head of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration.

“Concerns have been raised that this amount of gas, vented at ground level, could have possibly been ignited by a spark from a passing vehicle and caused a fire or an explosion,” they said.

But the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission last week approved the facility’s request to begin operations Thursday, Warren and Markey wrote.

“An emergency leak is unacceptable, and we ask that you fulfill your responsibility and conduct an investigation into this issue to protect public safety,” they wrote.

Opponents have argued for years that the Weymouth site, located on a peninsula, is too small, too polluted, and too close to too many dangers to safely accommodate the compressor.

Lynch said he has asked that an official from the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration join him for a walk-through of the facility when he returns to Boston later this week.

“I have already asked the Secretary of Transportation to suspend the opening of the compressor station pending a comprehensive review,” Lynch said, “and I am now demanding the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission … revoke the certificate of approval for the site and suspend operations due to the repetitive occurrence of these extremely dangerous events.”