PEABODY — Dozens of activists gathered at the Torigian Senior Center Wednesday evening to protest the ongoing construction of a Peaker Plant on Pulaski Street during a public hearing hosted by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection to discuss a proposed Carbon Dioxide Budget Trading Program Emission Control for the plant.
The plant, proposed by Massachusetts Municipal Wholesale Electric Company, or MMWEC, is set to begin operations next year in an effort to provide peak power from natural gas and oil to 12 municipal utilities located throughout the state: Peabody, Boylston, Holden, Hull, Mansfield, Marblehead, Shrewsbury, South Hadley, Sterling, Wakefield, West Boylston, and Russell. The demonstration Wednesday was organized by the Massachusetts Climate Action Network, a longtime opponent of the plant’s construction.
At the hearing, many held signs expressing their opposition to the construction of the new plant, and speaker after speaker, including local and state officials, said they were concerned about the environmental and health impacts of the plant. Many of those who spoke called on the Peabody Municipal Light Plant to shutter the two existing Peaker plants at the site, and provide a timeline for when they would do so, emphasizing Peabody’s status as an environmental justice community.
State Rep. Sally Kerans (D-Danvers) was the first to speak, saying she found it “very unfortunate and troubling” that provisions of the climate roadmap legislation passed by the state were not being applied to the project.
“Unfortunately, the [Department of Public Utilities] and state regulators have chosen not to apply the provisions of the much heralded climate roadmap law that we passed in the legislature, a remarkable piece of legislation, very carefully constructed over many many years and a huge achievement and unfortunately, we just decided to not apply it to this project,” she said. “The climate roadmap law will put the commonwealth on the path to net zero carbon emissions.”
Kerans stressed the idea of cumulative emissions, saying the three plants operating at once could create detrimental effects for the environment and for residents.
“Physicians and our public health professionals tell us we have elevated rates of asthma in this neighborhood,” she said. “No doubt the vehicular traffic coupled with whatever comes from these three plants … we are talking very much about an environmental justice area … my request tonight to the DEP is that you will hold this project now to current standards.”
“How much does one neighborhood have to endure?” Kerans added.
Sudi Smoller, of Peabody, a co-founder of Breathe Clean North Shore, said she believed 2022 was not the time to be investing in oil and gas, instead suggesting that renewable solutions or battery storage should be used instead.
“It’s been seven years since the new plant was proposed, life has changed, 2022 is not the time to be investing in a new oil and gas structure now that battery storage is a viable alternative and there are renewable alternatives,” she said, adding that she was hopeful DEP would follow a precedent set when it revoked a permit for the Palmer Renewable Energy Plant in Springfield. In upholding the decision, the Massachusetts Office of Appeals and Dispute Resolution cited “recent societal context and heightened focus on Environmental Justice.”
“The Peabody Peaker project should not be permitted to move forward. especially if no community health assessment is conducted,” Smoller said.
A resident of Peabody for nearly four decades, Smoller noted that the Salem City Council, Sustainable Marblehead, and City Councilor at Large Tom Gould all opposed the construction of the plant.
She added that it was her belief that the city should shutter both of the existing plants on the site.
Ward 3 City Councilor Stephanie Peach said she believed the city shouldn’t move forward with adding another pollutant to an area already impacted by decades of pollution from the leather industry.
“We live in a polluted city. That is a fact and there is no way around it,” said Peach. “We do take strides as a city, as residents to improve that whenever possible, and we work with our state and local government to do so and it’s really hard for us to then say we’re going to add something else that may pollute the very air that we breathe and the area of the city that has already been impacted so heavily by the leather industry.”
Peach added to the chorus of voices calling for the closure of the two existing plants, saying it was her understanding that the new plant would be much “cleaner” than the existing ones, and emphasizing the need for a clear timeline for the closure of those plants.
“Peabody is bearing the burden for other communities that are buying into this,” she said, adding that she also believed there was a need for a community health assessment to better understand the impacts the plant might have on the city.
In an interview ahead of the hearing, MCAN Interim Executive Director Logan Malik said the group organized the demonstration because it is their belief that “the construction of a brand new $85 million oil and gas facility … in an environmental justice community, at the end of the day, runs counter to everything that our state has … outlined as far as priorities with respect to addressing the climate crisis.”
“We’re really grateful that the DEP is taking this step, but it’s too late in the process and you know, this cannot make the past injustice and opaqueness of this project go away, it can’t be forgotten, but it is certainly a step in the right direction,” he said.
When Malik spoke during the hearing he added that the construction of the plant is a “matter of life and death,” citing a preliminary analysis the group did showing elevated health risks in the area surrounding the plant.
The city’s director of public health, Sharon Cameron, said there are “many well documented health concerns associated with fossil fuel burning power plants.”
“The plant has the potential to produce an additional 12 tons per year of small particulates, 8.3 tons of carbon monoxide, … 51,000 tons per year of carbon dioxide among others,” Cameron said. “The Peabody Board of Health would like to once again request that MMWEC be required to conduct a full environmental impact report and a comprehensive health impact assessment. We believe that these reports are absolutely necessary for decision makers … to understand the likely impact of the project on the environment and … our residents.”
Mary Klug, of Marblehead, added that “if we don’t start doing something they’re all going to be sick,” referencing the children and grandchildren of those in attendance.
Charlie McKenna can be reached at [email protected].
