|
Coal 
Sun Feb 07, 2010 at 08:49:56 AM PST
|
|
I'm so proud of my friend Lori (who can I proudly call MA State Rep. Lori Ehrlich) for her column, All neighbors have stake in power-plant suit. This is only tangentially related to food, but Lori has been a champion of sustainable food as well as clean energy and corporate responsibility for many years - long before she ever got into state politics.
Her column is about a fight against a local coal-fired power plant that got grandfathered in by the Clean Air Act in 1970 and to this day has not cleaned up its act. As Lori notes, "even though they have a more lax set of federal emission standards with which to comply, a recent examination of the plant's own records revealed hundreds of violations - 286 during 2005-2008 and the first three quarters of 2009." So a conservation group took them to court over it.
She ends by saying:
The stakeholders in this case are more than just the residents of Salem. While tax revenue stays within city limits, air pollution only listens to the wind. The plant's coal waste once contaminated drinking water for three communities, and mercury from the plant is ingested by the fish we eat. Everyone in the surrounding communities has a stake in this power plant and the outcome of this lawsuit.
We must no longer allow Dominion [the power company] to hijack our health for profit - they must be held accountable. This lawsuit will test in the courts the ability of the plant owners to ignore public health and sidestep federal regulations. In fact, they may choose to close the plant rather than comply. The city of Salem and its neighbors will need to plan for this eventuality and the reuse of this valuable property. Let us work together with our neighbors towards the day when a clean, sustainable use for that special place will replace this dirty, poisonous plant and provide real value to Salem and the surrounding communities.
|
|
Discuss
:: (15
Comments)
|
|
|
|
|
|
