On Thursday, at the request of the Tewksbury Board of Health, Dr. Jack Spengler, Dr. David MacIntosh, and Joseph Sabato of Environmental Health and Engineering (EH&E) gave a presentation about the impacts to Tewksbury of the proposed Billerica power plant, and then fielded questions from the BOH and the public.

The plant location would be at the very tip of North Billerica, on the borders of Tewksbury, Lowell, and Chelmsford.  EH&E was engaged by the town of Billerica to evaluate the health and environmental impacts of the proposed facility. The meeting was requested by Tewksbury’s Board of Health to address its concerns about the impacts to Tewksbury residents given the close proximity to the town line, and the knowledge that should the plant be permitted, Tewksbury’s air quality and roads will be negatively impacted, Tewksbury’s drinking water source is at risk, and there will be an increased burden to first responders (among other things).

For close to two hours following the presentation, the consulting firm answered questions from the Tewksbury Board of Health and area residents. A number of points were discussed including;

• EH&E’s intent to deliver their final report to the Billerica Board of Selectmen on Friday, June 20, 2008
• EH&E’s willingness to include a number of recommendations in that report arising from the Tewksbury BOH meeting (a few of which are listed below)
• Continued acknowledgement that air pollution from the plant would impact Tewksbury and other communities
• No assurances that existing breathing conditions, especially in children, would not be exacerbated by the increased pollution
• Agreement that further analysis of the impact of increased ozone contribution should be undertaken
• Agreement that further analysis of potential contamination at the site could be undertaken to protect the water supplies of Chelmsford and Tewksbury
• Estimation of as many as 38 tanker truck trips per day traveling on Woburn Street, through South Lowell and Tewksbury

Recommendation in EH&E’s report that first responders in surrounding communities have specific training for the kinds and nature of issues the plant could present

Agreement to investigate whether similar forums could be offered in other surrounding communities

Request to include a recommendation in the EH&E report that MA-DEP require a similar comprehensive permitting process should future changes be proposed to the plant and its operation

The audio from the meeting is available on at BillericaPowerPlant.org in MP3 format.  Note that the last few minutes were cut off, but the entire presentation and the vast majority of the questions are included. 

In a related story, the Massachusetts Senate adopted Walpole Senator James Timilty’s amendment to the 2009 budget that would prohibit the siting of a power plant less than a mile from a playground, day care center, school and "other vulnerably populated areas."  The adopted bill must now go through conference committee. Senator Timilty joins Senator Creedon of Brockton and Representative James Miceli of Tewksbury in proposing similar amendments.  Please e-mail your representatives urging them to continue their vigilance on this issue.   

Please share with your friends, family, and neighbors. 

 www.BillericaPowerPlant.org