Plant would burn construction waste

Date: 6/23/2009

By G. Michael Dobbs

Managing Editor



SPRINGFIELD -- Opponents to a biomass electrical generating plant proposed for a Page Boulevard site in Springfield say it will pose a health and pollution hazard for most of Hampden County if allowed to move forward.

Ian Bowles, the secretary of energy and environmental affairs, issued a waiver for the plant last June exempting it from undergoing an environmental impact study, stating the plant doesn't exceed any pollution thresholds.

Members of the Springfield-Area Sustainable Energy Association (SASEA) conducted a community forum on June 16 at Western New England College about the project known as Palmer Renewable LLC that will be on the site of Palmer Paving. If approved, the biomass plant will be the only one in the state allowed to burn construction and demolition waste.

Biomass plants typically burn green wood to generate electricity. The Springfield biomass plant is one of our being proposed in western Massachusetts. The others would be in Pittsfield, Russell and Greenfield.

Michael Kocsmierski, the president of SASEA, told Reminder Publications that when the group opposed the plant's permit for a zoning change last September before the Springfield City Council, their testimony was discounted.

"Members of the Council told us we weren't experts and our opinions were invalidated," Kocsmierski said. The point of the forum was to bring experts together who could bring additional information to the public.

According to Katherine Skiba, spokesperson for the Western Massachusetts office of the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), the Springfield project has two steps left in the permitting process. It must go through a Beneficial Use Determination (BUD), which would confirm the plan's ability to burn construction and demolition waste. She said that there would be no public comment for the BUD.

There will be a public hearing and comment period for the air quality permit, however, she said. That hearing has not yet been scheduled.

According to John Kontekakis, the secretary of SASEA there is "huge money" in the biomass generation field. Because biomass can be considered a "green," there are grants, loans and energy credits available to businesses. He said the developers behind the Greenfield biomass facility have predicted making their investment back in just four years.

Plants that burn construction and demolition waste make additional money because those plants are paid $100 a ton to accept waste, Kontekakis said.

Lisa Capone, a spokesperson for Bowles, explained in the Springfield plant's case, it would burn 900 tons of material a day, 700 tons being construction and demolition debris and 200 tons of green wood chips. The facility would only quality for renewable energy credits for the wood chips.

The project developer, Palmer Renewable Energy LLC, received a $250,000 grant from the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative Renewable Energy Trust in 2006 under its Clean Energy Program.

Chris Matera of Massachusetts Forest Watch said according to the developers the construction debris would be sorted and scrubbed prior to burning.

"There is no reliable way to sort clean wood from dirty wood," Matera asserted.

As for the harvesting of the green wood, Matera said the biomass plants threaten forests in the state. According to information he distributed that night, the green wood would come from public lands that would be the source for 532,000 tons of wood annually for the proposed biomass plans. He said that means clear cutting 6,200 acres of forest annually.

De-foresting leads to additional pollution and environmental concerns, he added.

If the biomass plants burn 2.4 million tons of wood a year there would be an 11 percent increase over the current statewide power plant carbon dioxide levels, he said.

According to information supplied by the Massachusetts Environmental Energy Alliance, "megawatt per mega watt, biomass and coal combustion emit about the same amount of particulate matter."

Matera maintained the Russell plant would release more carbon dioxide than existing coal-powered electrical plants.

Matera has followed the cycle of biomass plants in Maine where the cutting of forests drives up the cost of wood to a level the plants can't afford. The plants then make the switch to construction waste.

Although proponents note the new trees are planted, the rate of regrowth is outstripped by the harvesting, Mater's material stated.

Another aspect of the plant would be the additional traffic on Page Boulevard. In Bowles environmental notification form, the traffic impact was also discussed, "Pre-processed wood fuel will be delivered to the site by 20-ton trucks, five to six days per week; the project is anticipated to generate 126 daily trips. The Proponent has conducted a traffic study for the project, which indicates that the state highway system in the vicinity of the project has ample capacity to accommodate project-related traffic.

"Although the site abuts Interstate 291, the number of trips associated with the project does not trigger the need for an Indirect Access permit from the Massachusetts Highway Department. Trucks servicing the facility are proposed to use the existing Palmer Paving driveway on Cadwell Drive in addition to a new second driveway approximately 200 feet north from the existing site drive. Vehicles would then travel via Route 20, Page Boulevard to Route 291 and Interstate 90. The Proponent has also evaluated an alternative route where vehicles would exit the site and travel north on Cadwell Drive to the north to access Route 291 via Route 141.

"This alternative route may become the primary access to and from the site based on consultation with the City of Springfield and the abutting neighborhood. The Proponent should continue to coordinate with the City to ensure that the project's traffic impacts are adequately mitigated."

Jana Chicoine, a spokesperson for Concerned Citizens of Russell, has been part of a group that has opposed the biomass plant there for several years. The plant is still not a reality and Chicoine said of the fight with a laugh, "It's a boxing match in the fifth round and everyone is bloodied and sweating."

For more information, log onto SASEA at www.sasea.com.