Posted by Ed In December, Judi Luciano found a public relations kit in her mailbox. It cheerfully announced that a power plant was to be built just over the Billerica town line, less than a mile from her Park Avenue home. “It was this ‘Hi, neighbor, see you around the neighborhood’ kind of packet,” said Luciano. Stunned at the prospect, she talked to Tewksbury neighbors and members of her Billerica health club. No one had heard of it. “It’s a huge monstrosity, the biggest peak power plant in Massachusetts. I’m so shocked that people don’t know about it,” she said. Montgomery Billerica Power Partners wants to build a 480-megawatt peak electric plant on a 13.5-acre site near the Concord River on Woburn Street in North Billerica. Standing about 70 feet high, it would crank up at peak demand hours to supplement the power grid in Eastern Massachusetts and would run a maximum of 1,500 hours a year, or about 17 percent of the time. Its eight turbines would use natural gas, supplemented with ultra low-sulfur diesel fuel when demand for natural gas is high. The company could begin construction of the plant early next year and bring it online around November 2008. Montgomery Billerica is a joint venture between Montgomery Energy of Burlington, Conn., and DG Cleanpower of Thornton, N.H. “There is a power deficit in Eastern Massachusetts, and a large generator will provide needed energy support for greater Lowell,” said Joseph Fitzpatrick, CEO of DG Cleanpower. The demand for electricity at peak evening hours has grown with the state’s evolving economy, he said. As manufacturing has decreased and the technology and business sectors have grown, more people work standard business hours, creating a growing spike in electricity use in the early evening. The plant is still far from a done deal, with a long state and local permit process ahead before the company breaks ground, but Luciano already wonders what the local consequences will be. She is worried about noise, air and water pollution. But if her friends are unaware of the plant, local leaders are right on top of it. Tewksbury Town Manager David Cressman received an Environmental Notification Form about it and responded immediately. “One concern is water quality and the proximity to the Concord River and spillage of ammonia or fuel,” said Cressman. “The question is, is there adequate containment?”
on March 4, 2007, 12:03 am
24.34.144.49
http://www.townonline.com/tewksbury/local_news/x413876915
Proposed power plant jolts neighbors
By Linda Kush
Saturday, March 03, 2007 - Updated: 01:53 PM EST
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