Council seeks additional opinion on biomass

Date: 12/21/2010

Dec. 22, 2010

By G. Michael Dobbs

Managing Editor

FOLLOW-UP

Springfield's City Council is looking at its options on stopping the controversial biomass plant on Page Boulevard from opening, but the mayor of an abutting community doesn't believe there are options on the municipal level.

The president of the Springfield City Council is asking City Solicitor Edward Pikula for a legal opinion if Palmer Renewable Energy (PRE) actually needs a special permit for its proposed biomass electrical generating plant.

Jose Tosado told Reminder Publications the request came out of the discussion of whether or not the City Council can revoke the original special permit for the controversial facility.

Tosado said Frank Fitzgerald, the attorney for PRE, has maintained the facility does not need a special permit from the city. The City Council needs clarification on this statement.

"We need to find out what are our options and it needs to come from the city solicitor's office because at the end of the day there's going to be litigation," Tosado said.

Chicopee Mayor Michael Bissonnette said, "Our hands are tied at the local level."

He explained the theory of making decisions such as this one at the state level was to take away the influence developers might exercise over local officials.

A mayor of a neighboring community has even less power in the decision-making process than the officials of the community in which a plant such as this one is located, he added.

Bissonnette did say he was glad the plant had switched fuel sources from construction and demolition waste to green wood chips. But he said he would "rather not burn anything."

Chicopee residents have been among those from throughout the region who have expressed concern about the emissions from the plant increasing the air pollution that has given the Pioneer Valley a high rate of asthma.

Bissonnette said the neighborhoods in the Burnett Road area and Chicopee Falls would be the areas in the city with the greatest chance of being affected.

The mayor said he didn't oppose the biomass plant "on principle," as long as emissions didn't contribute to air pollution.

"I don't think that's been determined as yet," he added.

He said he has spoken to Richard Sullivan, the incoming secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs about the plant.