3 Pipeline Protesters Arrested At Waltham Energy Company Offices

WALTHAM, MA — Environmental activists opposing a compressor and pipeline project protested a second day inside the Waltham offices of a major Canadian pipeline company, until police arrested three of them Wednesday.

About 70 protesters came inside Enbridge's office in Waltham, chanting, holding signs and playing musice Tuesday. They said they wanted the pipeline company to end construction activities on the Line 3 pipeline, and shut down the Weymouth compressor, the West Roxbury Lateral Pipeline, and the Alton Gas project in Nova Scotia.

A group of about 20 protested throughout the night and into the afternoon Wednesday. Then, after multiple warnings, Waltham police stepped away for a moment to give the group a moment to decide if they really wanted to be arrested, video shows.

"Within the last hour, 3 people have been arrested," according to a post on Facebook group Fore River Residents Against the Compressor Station, which had been live-streaming, and posting video and updates from the office building.

A video shows police giving the activists a moment to discuss their next steps before an officer can be heard saying "If you guys don't want to go, we're gonna have to take you."

Five police officers in yellow then step toward the activists and video cuts out.

"A determination was made by the property management company to have the three remaining protesters arrested for trespassing," police said in a statement.

Members of the group said police escorted the 12 left outside. When three activists attempted to stay, they were arrested, the activists said.

"Our first priority is the safety of all involved - our workers, law enforcement and the protestors themselves," Enbridge spokesperson Max Bergeron said in a statement. "As a company, we recognize the rights of individuals and groups to express their views legally and peacefully. Our preference is always to seek to resolve differences of opinion through dialogue – peacefully and respectfully. We don’t tolerate illegal activities of any kind including trespassing or other mischief."

The group vowed to keep fighting in a post on Facebook.

"We send our love and appreciation to everyone who put their bodies on the line, to speak out against Enbridge's destructive actions," the group posted. "We stand in solidarity with Indigenous water protectors in Minnesota fighting to protect their land and water from Enbridge's Line 3 pipeline. We stand in solidarity with all of the communities that have been harmed by the fossil fuel industry, and forced to live with the pollution and destruction left behind."

The activists caught the eye of Sen. Ed Markey, who threw his support behind the activists Wednesday, saying he stands in solidarity with them.

Enbridge is working on the Atlantic Bridge project, which stretches the company's natural gas pipelines from New Jersey into Canada. Those opposed to the pipeline —and specifically the proposed compressor set for Weymouth— have argued since 2015 that the station presents health and safety risks.

Enbridge is responsible for the largest inland oil spill in the US.

On March 3, 1991, Enbridge's Line 3 oil pipeline ruptured in Grand Rapids, MN, spilling some 1.7 million gallons of crude oil onto a frozen river, making it the largest inland spill in U.S. history.

"We're never going to give up until Line 3 is stopped once and for all," said Nathan Philips of Newton, who is a faculty with the Boston University Institute for Sustainable Energy, is professor in the Department of Earth and Environment and acting director of the Sustainable Neighborhood Lab.

Samantha Hayward, 22, of Vermont, Alexander Chambers, 22, of Boylston, and Philips, 54, were all charged with trespassing, according to police.

The view this afternoon from inside: