Dear 'Links,
Today's Salem News editorial, cheerleading for 'whatever Dominion wants, Dominion should get,' ignores these truths:
1. Coal-burning plants have terrible health effects for all, particularly the most vulnerable, neighbors - see
http://psr.igc.org/nrtb-power-plants5.htm2. Dominion makes huge profits - $2.5 billion over all, doesn't share info on this plant.
3. The tax payment to the City of Salem is unconscionably small - down over 60% while average Salem homeowner's payment has increased 90%.
4. Dominion has made no capital improvements in the plant since they took over in '05 to meet the regulations - instead purchasing lower emissions coal from Colombia and Indonesia, paying credits to other companies' improvements, patching the exploded boiler rather than upgrading it.
5. All costs of running this plant are increasing including: shipping and buying coal from all over the world, buying carbon credits, greenhouse gases, maintenance for this aged plant, carbon injection for mercury abatement. Dominion will shut the plant when it is not highly profitable.
Oh, and once again, HealthLink has not advocated for plant shutdown for these past ten years. We know that the CEO of Dominion is paid $15million a year to make all decisions involving the bottom line. And we know what the bottom line is for this giant Virginia corporation - profit, more profit and most profit - in Salem, Fall River, Virginia and Colombia. All we can do is work as public citizens to support a health-sustaining environment through regulations that work to fetter unrestrained corporate greed.
Salem News
Our view: Dominion decision good news for Salem, region
July 28, 2008
Word that Salem Harbor Station will continue producing electricity for the indefinite future is good news for Salem and New England.
There was a lot more than good jobs, economic activity and property tax revenue to be lost had Dominion decided it was in its best financial interest to simply close the plant, rather than invest the additional money needed to comply with the more stringent environmental regulations due to take effect within the next several years.
But the Virginia-based energy giant figures it can continue to make a profit - nothing wrong with that - while at the same time maintaining a plant that according to ISO New England, which manages the region's power grid, remains essential to ensuring the reliability of the electricity supply in the Greater Boston area.
Despite the best efforts by government and utilities, including Dominion, to encourage conservation, the gap between the demand for electricity and the ability of New England power plants to meet that demand, continues to grow. Yet siting new plants in the region, including those that use cleaner-burning natural gas, remains an arduous task. Take Salem out of the mix, and the chances increase there will be power outages during periods of peak demand.
Consumers also benefit by the fact the power produced by burning coal at Salem costs about half that produced at plants fueled by natural gas; not to mention the fact it only makes sense to maintain a mix of fuels for the production of electricity rather than become increasingly reliant on one - natural gas - for which there is no local source.
HealthLink and others who have long clamored for the closure of Salem Harbor Station appear to have little concern for the impact the loss of $4.75 million in annual tax revenue would have on the city's ability to maintain its schools, public safety agencies and other essential services. And their claims that such a loss would be quickly offset by new development on the waterfront ignore the cost of the significant cleanup that would be required, as well as the difficulty of marketing condominiums or other uses on a site sandwiched between the regional sewage treatment plant and National Grid's transmission lines, neither of which are going anywhere.
Plant opponents were no doubt hoping the cost of compliance with the new environmental requirements imposed by the Legislature at Gov. Deval Patrick's urging would convince Dominion to simply shut it down. But that's not going to happen, according to company officials, who have adapted by using lower-emission coal from as far away as Indonesia and employing new technology like an activated carbon injection system they say will remove 95 percent of the mercury produced in the burning process.
They and previous owners have continuously invested in new equipment and practices so that today Salem is one of the cleanest coal-burning plants in the country. And according to a statement by Dominion Generation CEO Mark McGettrick, "We are confident that we can economically meet the requirements of tough, new Massachusetts and regional environmental laws that will take effect in the next few years."
So it looks like Salem Harbor Station will be producing electricity for the region awhile longer.
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