GOOD NEWS FOR STOP THE POWER PLANT



DON'T THINK IT COULDN'T HAPPEN

From ACE-Good news from the Energy Facilities Siting Board yesterday! In a 4-3 vote, the EFSB instructed its staff to write a Tentative Decision rejecting Brockton Power’s proposal to use Brockton potable water for cooling purposes. The reasons raised during the discussion were that there would be environmental impacts on a stressed ecosystem, Brockton Power did not show environmental impacts, and the impacts could not be mitigated. That was after a long discussion.
The next step is the EFSB staff will write a Tentative Decision, the parties get to write reply briefs, we all get to go back to the EFSB where the parties’ lawyers make oral argument, and the EFSB votes on the Final Decision.

We are a major step closer to our goal but the EFSB members have the opportunity to reconsider their votes and so we will not know for certain until they vote on the Final Decision.

I think it will be important to have a good turnout at the next EFSB hearing and that elected officials are there to tell the EFSB that they agree Brockton Power should not be able to use Brockton potable water for its cooling towers. We do not have a date for that hearing. I would guess it will be late this summer.

Thanks to everyone who was at yesterday’s hearing.

Eugene B. Benson, Legal Counsel & EJ Legal Services Program Director
Alternatives for Community & Environment, Inc. (ACE)
2181 Washington St., Suite 301
Roxbury, MA 02119
phone: 617-442-3343 x226; fax: 617-442-2425; cell: 339-368-3143
email: gene@ace-ej.org
ACE website: http://www.ace-ej.org/

FACTS:-From Stopthepower.net


-Brockton’s power plant will not lower our taxes or our electric bills.

-Brockton is already ranked ninth (9th) on the list of environmentally overburdened New England communities.

-Brockton is already one of the ten towns with the highest asthma hospitalization rates in Massachusetts.

-The 250 foot smokestack will release toxic pollutants for miles and change Brockton’s landscape.

-The plant emits nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, airborne particulates and carbon dioxide, a major pollutant and cause of global warming.

-Brockton Power will store 25,000 gallons of aqueous ammonia on the 13 acre site threatening West Bridgewater's drinking water.

-There will only be 20 long term jobs created by this plant, and there is no guarantee that those jobs will go to Brockton residents.

-The power plant will be built, owned and operated by a foreign based company that will sell the electricity to the National Grid.