To the editor:
Massachusetts Municipal Wholesale Electric Company (MMWEC) hosted a public forum in Peabody offering area residents their first opportunity to communicate directly with MMWEC about their concerns surrounding the proposed plant.
More than 120 local community members crowded into the Torigian Senior Center hoping to voice their opposition to the project and engage with MMWEC leadership. Instead, they got a two-hour lecture on the mechanics of the plant filled with inaccessible jargon, designed to portray the project as too complex for average citizens to have valuable insight.
When community members were finally given the floor to voice their distress about further investing in fossil fuel infrastructure, the lack of transparency surrounding the proposal, and the already poor air quality in the region, MMWEC officials did not have adequate responses to offer, and left several questions completely unanswered.
At the meeting, MMWEC promised to follow up with written answers for those who asked questions. Almost two weeks later, community members have heard nothing. MMWEC has also released almost no information about whether it will host meetings in the other 13 participating MLP communities.
On July 2, it was reported that MMWEC would hold a meeting about the proposal in Danvers, with no time allocated for public comments. North Shore residents are stakeholders in this process, they are making their voices heard, and it is time for MMWEC to reconcile their proposal with the needs of a community that does not want this plant to be built.
Theo Rosen
Community Action Works
Boston
