Despite widespread community opposition as well as opposition from over a dozen Massachusetts elected officials the state’s Energy Facilities Siting Board (EFSB) unanimously approved Eversource’s highly controversial plan to build a new substation along the Chelsea Creek in East Boston on Monday afternoon.
In a marathon meeting that lasted several hours and the adoption of several amendments to Eversource’s plan that included a safety plan, flood zone management and community mitigation the board eschewed Eastie’s and Chelsea’s already overburdened industrial infrastructure and rubber stamped the plan.
Despite state Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Kathleen Theoharides saying at Monday’s hearing that the substation would be placed in a “heavily, heavily industrialized area within an environmental justice community that has historically suffered disproportionate environmental harms and a heavy burden of infrastructure” she still voted in favor of Everso