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www.healthlink.org
What can you do? 
 
Sign the petition against the plant
Let the decision makers know how you feel about 40 more years of unneeded fossil fuels. Link to: http://www.healthlink.org/petition-147.html or go to the GASPP Facebook page to download a petition to circulate.
 
Make an end-of the-year donation:
to Conservation Law Foundation for its representation on behalf of the public on the federal level (air permit) and on the state level (water and siting permits); or send a check to HealthLink to dispense your funds. Both are tax-deductible.
 
If you live in Salem
talk to local friends and neighbors about this 40+ year commitment to more fossil fuel in Salem. Tell them that the DEP can require the existing plant to be cleaned up by new owners and there are better uses for the property.

If you live in a neighboring town
talk to your town officials on the Board of Health, Selectboard, Council, to inform them of the impact of this plant on your town and our planet. Urge them to research and speak out. 
 
 

 
 
 
 


 
 

 


 

 

Dear 'Links,

 

    Do you agree that climate change is a problem? The Massachusetts Global Warming Solutions Act mandates amounts of greenhouse gases emitted and was passed unanimously by the Legislature in 2008. This proposed gas plant in Salem will provide 13% of all greenhouse gases allowed across all sectors in 2050!!! HealthLink supports CLF's insistence on following this law.
    The Independent System Operator struggles with its position. It allowed the Salem coal plant to close in May 2014 without replacement. The ISO's new legal brief supporting this gas plant is on questionable grounds.
    HealthLink has taken a strong and reasoned position against this plant and is joined by many environmental groups such as Clean Water Action, The Sierra Club, Conservation Law Foundation, EnergyJustice.net, Environment Massachusetts, and others who agree that gas is not a bridge to a renewable energy future but a wall against it. The only responsible bridge to real renewables is to dismantle the existing infrastructure and build a new infrastructure of power from solar, wind, hydrodynamics.
    Transmission lines to be completed by 2018 will allow for more energy to be distributed without building a behemoth that will reap profits for the owners, cause destructive emissions to the skies, and commit to more fossil fuels for 50 years.
    The debate is hot. Opinions fly about the plant itself, the process, the politics, and more. Read about it here. 

     Representative Ehrlich's column: 

     Brian Watson dials back from his previous pro-plant position:

http://www.salemnews.com/opinion/x601935271/Watson-Power-plant-fight-is-about-energy-choices/?state=taberU

 

     Mixed opinions surface in Salem and neighboring communities:



     Huffington Post, CLF's John Kassell's call for an end to the gas transition: 

     Marblehead Reporter, Lynn Nadeau's letter: 


    Salem resident objects to political maneuvering: 

    ISO has been wrong before and is wrong this time. "ISO previously found that the obsolete Salem Harbor Station coal station was needed for reliability before being vetoed by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in 2010," CLF Vice President N. Jonathan Peress wrote, "The federal agency overruled ISO three years ago."

    Salem News once more asserts their support for the plant:
 
HealthLink
P.O. Box 301
Swampscott, MA 01907
781-598-1115

 

HealthLink mission: To protect and improve public health by reducing and eliminating toxins and pollutants from our environment through research, education and community action.