Ticker: Feds greenlight restart at Weymouth gas compressor; Nurses plan picket at Worcester hospital

Enbridge will start pumping natural gas through its Weymouth compressor station next month after federal regulators gave the final green light, ruling that the company sufficiently corrected any issues behind two emergency shutdowns this fall.

The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration signed off late last week on a plan to restart operations at the site with gas pressure limited to 80% of the levels before the most recent incident.

With the agency’s approval, the controversial project appears set to begin operating in the next few weeks after years of opposition from community groups and elected officials.

An Enbridge spokesperson said the company now plans to start service at the compressor “in early December” to ship natural gas northward to utilities in Maine and Canada.

“The compressor station will methodically be placed in service in accordance with applicable regulations and with oversight from PHMSA,” the spokesperson, Max Bergeron, said in a statement. “To ensure awareness, we will be communicating further with our neighbors, state and municipal officials, and first responders.”

Nurses plan picket at Worcester hospital 

Nurses at a Worcester hospital plan to picket outside the front entrance to protest what they say is a lack of safe staffing, protection and support from management.

The informational picket by nurses at St. Vincent Hospital is scheduled for Tuesday from 2 to 4 p.m., according to a statement from the Massachusetts Nurses Association.

St. Vincent nurses have filed more than 360 official reports of conditions that jeopardized the safety of their patients, and more than 100 have left the hospital because of the conditions, the union said.

St. Vincent is operated by Dallas-based Tenet Health.

“We have tried for months to convince our administration and the Tenet corporation to provide us with the resources we need to keep the public safe, yet they only make things worse,” St. Vincent nurse and union official Marlena Pellegrino said in a statement.

A message seeking comment was left Sunday with a St. Vincent spokesperson.