fisher16
08-31-2008, 05:13 PM
Dear Friends:
Interveners in a state zoning exemption proceeding have won an important victory in the citizen quest to protect our town from the adverse impacts of the proposed Russell Biomass woodburning power plant. In a detailed 96-page decision, the state Department of Public Utilities (D.P.U.) has agreed that there are significant problems with the truck traffic and also questions whether this is an appropriate site for such a facility. The mismanagement of traffic, the thorny siting problem, and the poor design of the facility clearly show that the developers are out of their depth and untrustworthy to take on the responsibilities of safely operating a major power plant.
More work needs to be done to seal up the victory. Following are links to articles in the Boston Globe and Republican newspapers describing the state's rejection of Russell Biomass:
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/08/28/biomass_power_plant_is_rejected/ (http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/08/28/biomass_power_plant_is_rejected/)
http://www.masslive.com/republican/stories/index.ssf?/base/news-13/1219821309196710.xml&coll=1 (http://www.masslive.com/republican/stories/index.ssf?/base/news-13/1219821309196710.xml&coll=1)
The decision was also briefly mentioned in the New York Times (see paragraph 10):
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/29/business/29biomass.html (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/29/business/29biomass.html)
(Also, attached to this email is an article that appeared in the Westfield Evening News which is a personal favorite of mine.)
Russell Biomass lead partner Bill Hull has of course vowed that it is not over yet. He says that they are "going back to the drawing board," and that downtown Russell is still their target. In order to continue, the developers need a 2/3 town vote to take private property by eminent domain along with state approval to build an entirely new roadway around Turtle Bend Mountain. This course of action would require extensive town funding, and any decisions would be highly appealable as the diesel emissions would affect severe asthmatics who live above the truck passage. Diesel emissions and noise on the proposed new trucking route affect almost as many homes as the Main Street route, sending 150-240 trucks per day at the bottom of a steep bank directly underneath 11 homes on River Street and two homes on Frog Hollow Road, and near 19 homes in a trailer park off Route 20. The diesel stacks would be blowing exhaust at about the same height as the front doors of many of the homes. You can visit Google Earth to see the setup.
Bill Hull also needs to get past the Special Permit appeal (which his own lawyer said he would not win), he needs a zoning variance from the Russell Zoning Board of Appeals (which would be totally illegal and therefore easily appealed) and/or he needs another 2/3 town vote to change the zoning bylaw. Furthermore, he needs for the Russell Planning Board and Zoning Board of Appeals to approve changes in the Special Permit allowing an additional 60 daily trucks beyond what the company originally asked for (making a grand total of up to 120 trucks -or 240 one-way trips - per day), and he needs these same town officials to allow chemically contaminated wood in the fuel mix.
Bill Hull's proposed course of action puts the Special Permit Appeal, Russell voters, Russell homeowners, and Town of Russell elected officials in the center of his target.
We need funds immediately to finish up our efforts as soon as possible. The timing is right to nail down the victory once and for all, and we need everybody's help as this is a pretty costly situation involving a number of legal proceedings. Please mail contributions to The Concerned Citizens of Russell at the address below. (Contributions over $250.00 are tax-deductible through a pass-through agreement with Toxics Action Center. Please make checks over $250.00 payable to Toxics Action Center and mail them to Concerned Citizens of Russell at the address below.) If you need to make an anonymous contribution, please use a bank check.
We would also like to thank the interveners for the tremendous work and personal sacrifices which brought us this great victory at the D.P.U. If you would like to thank them too, you can send thank-you emails to the email address below and we will forward them to the citizen interveners.
With your help, we can say "Bye-Bye Biomass" and celebrate a great and final victory together in the near future! (My, doesn't that sound wonderful!)
Sincerely,
Jana Chicoine, Spokesperson
Concerned Citizens of Russell
P.O. Box 481
Russell, MA 01071
(413) 862-0037
janachicoine@verizon.net (janachicoine@verizon.net)
www.concernedcitizensofrussell.org (http://www.concernedcitizensofrussell.org/)
Interveners in a state zoning exemption proceeding have won an important victory in the citizen quest to protect our town from the adverse impacts of the proposed Russell Biomass woodburning power plant. In a detailed 96-page decision, the state Department of Public Utilities (D.P.U.) has agreed that there are significant problems with the truck traffic and also questions whether this is an appropriate site for such a facility. The mismanagement of traffic, the thorny siting problem, and the poor design of the facility clearly show that the developers are out of their depth and untrustworthy to take on the responsibilities of safely operating a major power plant.
More work needs to be done to seal up the victory. Following are links to articles in the Boston Globe and Republican newspapers describing the state's rejection of Russell Biomass:
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/08/28/biomass_power_plant_is_rejected/ (http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/08/28/biomass_power_plant_is_rejected/)
http://www.masslive.com/republican/stories/index.ssf?/base/news-13/1219821309196710.xml&coll=1 (http://www.masslive.com/republican/stories/index.ssf?/base/news-13/1219821309196710.xml&coll=1)
The decision was also briefly mentioned in the New York Times (see paragraph 10):
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/29/business/29biomass.html (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/29/business/29biomass.html)
(Also, attached to this email is an article that appeared in the Westfield Evening News which is a personal favorite of mine.)
Russell Biomass lead partner Bill Hull has of course vowed that it is not over yet. He says that they are "going back to the drawing board," and that downtown Russell is still their target. In order to continue, the developers need a 2/3 town vote to take private property by eminent domain along with state approval to build an entirely new roadway around Turtle Bend Mountain. This course of action would require extensive town funding, and any decisions would be highly appealable as the diesel emissions would affect severe asthmatics who live above the truck passage. Diesel emissions and noise on the proposed new trucking route affect almost as many homes as the Main Street route, sending 150-240 trucks per day at the bottom of a steep bank directly underneath 11 homes on River Street and two homes on Frog Hollow Road, and near 19 homes in a trailer park off Route 20. The diesel stacks would be blowing exhaust at about the same height as the front doors of many of the homes. You can visit Google Earth to see the setup.
Bill Hull also needs to get past the Special Permit appeal (which his own lawyer said he would not win), he needs a zoning variance from the Russell Zoning Board of Appeals (which would be totally illegal and therefore easily appealed) and/or he needs another 2/3 town vote to change the zoning bylaw. Furthermore, he needs for the Russell Planning Board and Zoning Board of Appeals to approve changes in the Special Permit allowing an additional 60 daily trucks beyond what the company originally asked for (making a grand total of up to 120 trucks -or 240 one-way trips - per day), and he needs these same town officials to allow chemically contaminated wood in the fuel mix.
Bill Hull's proposed course of action puts the Special Permit Appeal, Russell voters, Russell homeowners, and Town of Russell elected officials in the center of his target.
We need funds immediately to finish up our efforts as soon as possible. The timing is right to nail down the victory once and for all, and we need everybody's help as this is a pretty costly situation involving a number of legal proceedings. Please mail contributions to The Concerned Citizens of Russell at the address below. (Contributions over $250.00 are tax-deductible through a pass-through agreement with Toxics Action Center. Please make checks over $250.00 payable to Toxics Action Center and mail them to Concerned Citizens of Russell at the address below.) If you need to make an anonymous contribution, please use a bank check.
We would also like to thank the interveners for the tremendous work and personal sacrifices which brought us this great victory at the D.P.U. If you would like to thank them too, you can send thank-you emails to the email address below and we will forward them to the citizen interveners.
With your help, we can say "Bye-Bye Biomass" and celebrate a great and final victory together in the near future! (My, doesn't that sound wonderful!)
Sincerely,
Jana Chicoine, Spokesperson
Concerned Citizens of Russell
P.O. Box 481
Russell, MA 01071
(413) 862-0037
janachicoine@verizon.net (janachicoine@verizon.net)
www.concernedcitizensofrussell.org (http://www.concernedcitizensofrussell.org/)