Plans to build a 55-megawatt natural gas-fired power plant in Peabody have been put on hold as the proposed facility's owner addresses environmental and health concerns and considers alternate energy options.
Proposed Peabody power plant put on hold for 30 days
May 12, 2021 GMT
PEABODY, Mass. (AP) Plans to build a 55-megawatt natural gas-fired power plant in Peabody have been put on hold as the proposed facility’s owner addresses environmental and health concerns and considers alternate energy options.
The Massachusetts Municipal Wholesale Electric Co.’s board of directors voted to authorize a minimum 30-day pause on the plans this week, The Salem News reported Wednesday.
MMWEC called pausing the project, which has been in the works since 2015, “an unusual step.”
“Can we find a way to develop a needed capacity resource that isn’t fossil fuel-fired but still reliable in times of need?” company CEO Ron DeCurzio said in a statement. “It is worth taking another look at whether advancements in technology make a different approach possible today.”
PROVIDENCE Last February, a top official with the Rhode Island Department of Health assured lawmakers that the state was on the verge of coming up with regulations on so-called “forever chemicals” found in firefighting foam, cookware and food packaging that have contaminated drinking water supplies across the nation.
A drinking water standard for compounds in the per- and polyfluoroalkyl substance, or PFAS, family would be presented to Gov. Gina Raimondo’s office in March and be ready for the public to see by May, associate director of health Seema Dixit told the House Environment and Natural Resources Committee at a hearing on Feb. 6, 2020.
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A new coalition in Vermont aims to unify grassroots work on racial, economic and environmental justice policies.
Vermont Renews was launched last week by advocates and legislators who support action on social justice and environmental policies. It is currently comprised of nine organizations including labor, racial justice and environmental advocates.
Rights and Democracy Movement Politics Director Kiah Morris is a member of the Vermont Commission on Women. She hosted the virtual launch of Vermont Renews. “Our current systems are deeply dysfunctional, rooted in historical oppressions and fragile. And when those fragile systems break it is the Vermonters who have been systemically kept out of the places of power that are the most impacted: Abenaki and indigenous persons, racial and ethnic minorities, LGBTQIA ( Outright Action International: LGBTQIA – Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and/or Questioning, Intersex, and Asexual and/or Ally) individuals, individua
Help for residents near polluted farm
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Everyone deserves safe drinking water. Unfortunately, this essential resource is being stripped from Fairfield residents as one story after another highlights the PFAS chemical pollution discovered in private wells surrounding Tozier Dairy Farm. The count of compromised water sources has risen quickly in the last few months; so far, 18 wells have been found to have levels of PFAS contamination that exceed the EPA’s safe limit.
PFAS is the toxic “forever” chemical that doesn’t break down easily in our bodies or our environment. Instead, it accumulates and can cause health issues such as cancers, liver and kidney damage, and more. While officials continue to find high levels of this dangerous chemical in drinking water, residents are being given a limited supply of bottled water to replace their wells. This is not a long-term solution, and more needs to be done to protect our communities. To make that happen, everyday peop