Public Input A Must In Power Plant Projects: State Representatives

PEABODY, MA — The full delegation of North Shore state representatives this week signed on to a letter to Massachusetts Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Rebecca Tepper urging more public input into Department of Public Utilities deliberations and decisions when it comes to new power plants and generators — as well as rate changes.

Reps. Jenny Armini (D-Marblehead), Manny Cruz (D-Salem), Sally Kerans (D-Danvers), Jerry Parisella (D-Beverly) and Thomas Walsh (D-Peabody) all signed the letter, authored by John Barrett III (D-North Adams), calling on the DPU to better involve the public in the early stages of its decisions and to make changes to its database to allow more accessible opportunities to gain information on projects, monitor the approval process and, potentially, paths to oppose new projects that could negatively affect environmental justice communities.

"The public deserves to have their voices heard, their concerns considered, and their input acknowledged by the regulators that approve and condition energy-generating facilities in Massachusetts," Walsh said in a statement provided to Patch Thursday morning. "Residents should have the same opportunity as the big utilities to provide testimony and participate in the review process for these polluting power plants affecting their neighborhoods."

The letter requested Tepper to follow the recommendations outlined in Attorney General Andrea Campbell's recently released report "Overly Impacted and Rarely Heard: Incorporating Community Voices into the Massachusetts Energy Regulatory Proceedings."

These include plain language translations of what can be complicated applications as well as notifications on when public hearings are being held and how people can take part in them.

The North Shore delegation was among the 40 representatives signing on to the letter that comes after a much-disputed approval process involving the new 60-megawatt, fossil fuel-powered, peak-capacity generator at the Peabody Waters River substation.

Project 2015A moved along the state approval process in relative obscurity for about six years before climate advocates, and later public officials, pushed to stall, alter or abandon the generator that the Massachusetts Municipal Wholesale Electric Company said was necessary to provide reliable and cost-effective power during peak-demand periods such as extreme summer heat and catastrophic winter storms.

While MMWEC and the Peabody Municipal Light Plant made some changes to the generator designed to reduce emissions — including agreeing to decommission one of the two older generators currently at the site — the project ultimately got the go-ahead for much of the framework for the original plan the utility said will operate for approximately 239 hours per year and be 94 percent more efficient than generators across the state.

Many of the appeals were denied based on what the DPU determined was a lack of "intervening status" amid the approval process that was overwhelmingly completed by the time the public opposition mounted.

Because the generator received initial approval prior to the state's since-enacted climate roadmap legislation, it was also not retroactively required to undergo the environmental impact study that some local and state officials and advocacy groups have urged.

"As the Commonwealth transitions towards carbon-neutral energy production, there is no better time for the Department to take the immediate and necessary steps to ensure that the public's interests are protected," the legislators' letter to Tepper said. "It is important that communities directly impacted by the DPU's decisions be engaged with, rather than dictated to. The Department has neglected its regulatory responsibility of supporting all neighborhoods' right to meaningful involvement in energy and environmental decision-making.

"As we begin implementing a new era of clean energy, Massachusetts residents deserve to have the opportunity to voice their concerns with energy and rate decisions. We are hopeful that new leadership and reforms will foster a positive and transparent relationship between the DPU and the public."

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)