Stakeholders, once again, sat at the table with DEP and Dominion pressing for clean air requirements to be met responsibly and in a timely manner. Press release follows.
CONTACT:Jane Bright (
Healthlink) 781-631-8104, cell 617-755-2130
Pat Gozemba, (Salem Resident) 978-744-9141
Cindy Luppi, (CWA) 617-338-8131
Shanna Vale, (CLF) 617-850-1716
DOMINION SKATES ON THIN ICE: REVEALS LITTLE ABOUT PLANS TO REDUCE POLLUTIONResidents and environmental groups cast doubt on future of plant SALEM, MA (July 25, 2008) At a stakeholder meeting on Thursday the owner of the Salem Harbor coal power plant, Dominion, failed to present a specific plan for doing even the bare minimum to meet pollution limitations required by Massachusetts' so-called "Filthy Five" regulations by 2011. Residents, environmental groups and community organizations expressed disappointment at the vague plans Dominion outlined and said the company must fully honor the commitments it made in 2005 to develop a concrete plan with specific actions it will take to meet clean air standards.
The pollution restrictions, meant to curb emissions of greenhouse gases and toxics like mercury, and the meeting to unveil Dominion's plans for compliance, are required under a 2005 legal agreement between the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Dominion, HealthLink, the City of Salem, Wenham Lake Watershed Association, Clean Water Action and Conservation Law Foundation.
At the meeting, Dominion disclosed that it does not currently plan to make extensive pollution control upgrades such as those it has installed at its Brayton Point facility in southeastern Massachusetts; instead Dominion plans to continue experimenting with multiple strategies intended to meet pollution control requirements. Environmentalists and concerned residents maintain that under the 2005 agreement, Dominion should have come to the Thursday meeting with a specific plan for how it will meet its obligations to reduce pollution through 2011 and beyond.
"Dominion didn't present a plan for reaching their next set of pollution reductions yesterday, they shared a laundry list of options," said Cindy Luppi, Program Director of Clean Water Action. "We still have no idea how they will meet their next requirements for global warming pollution, smog or soot-forming emissions."
Concerns about the 56 year old coal plant took on greater urgency in November 2007, when the newest of the coal boilers exploded, killing 3 employees and contaminating the facility with asbestos. As a result of the explosion, OSHA issued a citation for ten "serious" violations including failure to inspect (for over 9 years) the area where the explosion occurred.
"They are running an aging sub-standard plant at great expense to everyone's health and safety. It's time they stopped polluting the air and work responsibly with the community to move toward a greener future," commented Pat Gozemba of Salem.
Following the explosion, the plant was shut down for over six months, notably without triggering any power outages or "brownouts." Advocates pointed to transmission line and other electric system upgrades for allowing the system to function well even while the plant was not running, and highlighted the rapidly decreasing need for the facility.
"We have sincere doubts about the future relevance of this plant given the need to move beyond polluting fossil fuels and the availability of cleaner alternatives including energy efficiency, conservation, and renewable energy," explained Shanna Vale, staff attorney for Conservation Law Foundation.
Dominion indicated that it intends to operate on the edge of pollution reductions and buy compliance credits when it goes over the edge rather than invest in state of the art control equipment that provides dependable emission reductions onsite. "Their ill-defined plan is consistent with their whole approach to do the bare minimum for Salem and keep pumping as much pollution into the community as they can get away with. The more we learn of the health consequences, the more urgent it becomes to eliminate pollution at the source, so their approach raises many concerns and is discouraging" said Jane Bright of HealthLink
Marjorie Kelly, a Salem resident and former publisher of Business Ethics magazine commented that "Dominion has the economic wherewithal to do better than this for the city of Salem. This is not the behavior one would expect from a major energy corporation that is serious about addressing the problems of public health, air quality, and climate change."
Stakeholders will continue to engage in discussions with Dominion and the DEP to ensure that clean air regulations are met in a responsible and timely manner.
