Scattered thunderstorms developing late. Low near 65F. Winds SSW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 50%..
Scattered thunderstorms developing late. Low near 65F. Winds SSW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 50%.
A participant holds a sign during a climate change protest by activists at the Water Street Bridge in Danvers in opposition to the Peabody Peaker Plant.
Russell Donovan of Peabody flies a kite with the words "No Gas" during a climate change protest by activists in opposition to the Peabody Peaker Plant.
Meryl Brott ties kite strings on her kite during a climate change protest by activists at the Water Street Bridge in Danvers.
A woman prepares to fly a kite with the words “Empathy, Humility, Frugality” during a protest by activists at the Water Street Bridge in Danvers in opposition to the Peabody Peaker Plant.
Participants sing songs during a protest by activists at the Water Street Bridge in Danvers in opposition to the Peabody Peaker Plant.
Participants hold up signs for traffic going by during a climate change protest by activists opposed to the Peabody Peaker Plant.
Kent Wittenbrug flies a kite during a climate change protest by activists at the Water Street Bridge in Danvers in opposition to the Peabody Peaker Plant.
A variety of kites with the words “No Gas” are held by a few participants during a protest at the Water Street Bridge in Danvers in opposition to the Peabody Peaker Plant.
Participants place signs on their shirts during a climate change protest in opposition to the Peabody Peaker Plant.
A climate change protest takes place at the Water Street Bridge in Danvers in opposition to the Peabody Peaker Plant.
A participant holds a sign during a climate change protest by activists at the Water Street Bridge in Danvers in opposition to the Peabody Peaker Plant.
Russell Donovan of Peabody flies a kite with the words "No Gas" during a climate change protest by activists in opposition to the Peabody Peaker Plant.
Meryl Brott ties kite strings on her kite during a climate change protest by activists at the Water Street Bridge in Danvers.
A woman prepares to fly a kite with the words “Empathy, Humility, Frugality” during a protest by activists at the Water Street Bridge in Danvers in opposition to the Peabody Peaker Plant.
Participants sing songs during a protest by activists at the Water Street Bridge in Danvers in opposition to the Peabody Peaker Plant.
Participants hold up signs for traffic going by during a climate change protest by activists opposed to the Peabody Peaker Plant.
Kent Wittenbrug flies a kite during a climate change protest by activists at the Water Street Bridge in Danvers in opposition to the Peabody Peaker Plant.
A variety of kites with the words “No Gas” are held by a few participants during a protest at the Water Street Bridge in Danvers in opposition to the Peabody Peaker Plant.
Participants place signs on their shirts during a climate change protest in opposition to the Peabody Peaker Plant.
A climate change protest takes place at the Water Street Bridge in Danvers in opposition to the Peabody Peaker Plant.
About 60 demonstrators gathered at the Waters River Bridge in Danvers Thursday afternoon to protest a new “peaker” power plant in Peabody. Their demand: for lawmakers to “do their job.”
“They’re ignoring the law. They’re ignoring our health needs, our climate needs,” said Jerry Halbertstadt, an environmental activist who has lived in Peabody for 15 years. “Everybody here, in one way or another, is aware of how important it is to make a change now.”
Halbertstadt, who is also a member of Breathe Clean North Shore, joined demonstrators in holding signs and flying kites that bore sayings like “No gas” and “Clean Energy Now, No Dirty Peaker” while standing along the bridge.
Some protesters also rode bikes and paddled kayaks with similar messages on their backs or boats.
The 55-megawatt “peaker” plant would be powered by oil and natural gas, and run during peak times of energy use. Construction on the new plant has already started, with developers expecting the $85 million project to be completed by summer 2023.
Protesters said the project’s developers, particularly the Massachusetts Municipal Wholesale Electric Company (MMWEC), have not been transparent about the project nor provided adequate health and environmental impact reports.
State Rep. Sally Kerans spoke at Thursday’s rally. She said neither herself nor elected officials in her district, including Peabody’s mayor and city council, were aware of the new plant until activists spoke up.
The state’s Department of Public Utilities also did not allow citizen input on the project before it was greenlighted, she said.
“[Developers] couldn’t be bothered to come and say ‘we have a plan’ and it’s a plan that should have been adjusted. What was wrong with them? Why did they persist in a dated technology when all around us there are advances that lead to better clean energy options?” Kerans told protesters.
“We’re just asking for what we’ve asked for from the beginning,” she continued.
Julie Smith-Galvin is a town councilor in Wakefield, one of the 14 communities who have invested in the plant.
Smith-Galvin told protesters that while MMWEC did temporarily pause the project to explore alternatives, 60 days later — after a single public meeting was held and the company made what she called a “vague” promise to switch to hydrogen if it became available — MMWEC continued with the approval process.
“Mark my words, this project will become a symbol of climate inaction for generations to come if it is built,” Smith-Galvin told the crowd. “This is not a cost issue. This is not a reliability issue. This is not an issue of inadequate alternatives. This is an issue of political weakness and it is time for the state to act.”
Singers from the group “Music Out Front” called on Gov. Charlie Baker to put a stop to the project by singing songs “What do you do with fossil fuels? Keep them in the ground,” and “Talks like Gov. Climate, walks like Gov. Gas” during the protest.
“Turns out that this tale of climate leadership may indeed be a fairy tale,” Smith-Galvin said.
The new plant would be built on city-owned land on Pulaski Street that is controlled by the Peabody Municipal Light Plant (PMLP) and already houses the Water River substation. PMLP Manager Joseph Anastasi said that his company has been a leader in adopting renewable energy and reducing its carbon footprint.
PMLP’s power portfolio is 42% non-carbon emitting, and the company hopes to reach 100% net-zero emissions ahead of the state Department of Environmental Protection’s goal of doing so by 2050, Anastasi said.
“As much as we’d like to, we simply can’t get there overnight,” Anastasi said.
The new plant, which has been referred to as Project 2015A in public documents since it was first proposed in 2015, is not an “energy” resource, but a “capacity” one, Anastasi said. The plant would be used to prevent blackouts during especially hot or cold days when ACs and heaters are working hardest.
“The 2015A project is a means to ensure we can sustain the ever-increasing load from electrification and successfully wean off of fossil fuels while still keeping the lights on and rates at an affordable level,” Anastasi said.
He said his company has produced required documents in a timely fashion and secured all of the legal permitting the project would need.
This information was made public for years at the company’s public monthly meetings, “which nobody attended,” Anastasi said.
“Everything we do is made public,” he said. “There are hundreds, if not thousands of other projects we’ve accomplished that could fall under this same category (that we didn’t do “enough” to make the public aware). How much is enough? Who determines this?
“My guess is that those who contend we’ve shown a lack of transparency simply found out about something after the fact, and didn’t like it,” Anastasi continued.
Smith-Galvin told protesters that choosing a site for the new plant that is already home to two fossil-fuel generators, and the project’s name, gave residents no indication of what Project 2015A was.
“With some fancy ownership structuring, they could avoid onerous permitting requirements…” Smith-Galvin said. “The nondescript name drew little attention to its underlying fuels or impacts when placed on meeting agendas, and it was ignored.”
Protesters argued that developers should have turned to renewable resources for the new plant. Mireille Bejjani, an organizer of Thursday’s protest and energy justice director at Community Action Works, said if it does get built as planned, the state could still pull the plug on the plant years after it’s been at work.
“The biggest thing is to speak out in whatever channel you can to the decision-makers who have power over this and in this case, that’s Governor Baker and the secretary of the Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs,” Bejjani said.
Halberstadt said the community owes it to themselves, and future generations, to speak up.
“I’m worried about my grandchildren, and the way things are going to be a difficult world for them,” he said. “This is a small part of what I can do to help bring attention to it and maybe turn it around.”
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