Boston Globe: In Weymouth, echoes of Flint

The enormous risks posed by the proposed gas compressor station in Weymouth, Massachusetts have been dramatically understated by the utilities, and would be borne almost entirely by low-income and minority residents of that city. This creates uncomfortable and potentially devastating parallels to the water crisis in Flint, Michigan, as the lives and health of already-underprivileged communities are put at risk in pursuit of corporate profits. This would exacerbate the already troubled public health situation in the Fore River Basin, where lower-income residents have been subjected to industrial waste dumping, air pollution and runoff for decades, resulting in higher rates of chronic respiratory diseases, among other adverse health effects. The growing realization that the original approvals for the project were based on extremely faulty health-impact data has made the project a flashpoint for anti-pipeline activism and organization.