Dear Billy T and Somerville/Medford News Weekly Speakup Line,

I’d love to know why National Grid thinks it’s acceptable for a Somerville neighborhood to be inhaling gas leaks for over 2 weeks (on a project they’ve been working a couple of months on) and even with a rep verifying there were 2 severe leaks and 1 minor leak we’re told we’ll “just have to deal with it for at least another 2 weeks”. The fire dept has also verified the leaks.The project manager of McDermett construction was left numerous messages and didn’t find it important enough to return any calls. No confidence in what they have to say anyway since they’ve already broke a water main due to their carelessness. The extreme heat last week required fans and a/cs, it only brought the fumes even more so into residential homes. Neighbors and children can’t go outside of your home to try and get a break from being indoors due to the excessive smell of gas. In the evening, when there is less traffic flow, the gas smell is even more excessive and comes into the windows so you can breathe more of it in while you sleep. When informing 1 NG rep that there were neighbors with serious breathing conditions, he replied with ” you’ll get used to it, I breathe it in all the time”. A 2nd NG rep did say he contacted his supervisor about it due to the overwhelming smell, yet NG still has done nothing about it.
I’ve contacted the State Rep Pat Jehlen and local Alderman Matt McLaughlin in hopes someone will listen to them since Mayor Curtatone’s office blew off the notification of what was happening as an inconvenience.
I guess it’s going to take another Methuen and/or Baltimore before someone steps up.