North Shore Officials, Peabody Light Spar Over Proposed Gas Plant

PEABODY, MA —Growing environmental and quality-of-life concerns surrounding a proposed gas power plant in Peabody are in conflict with the Peabody Municipal Light Plant's insistence that the plant is necessary to meet surge capacity requirements.

The long-proposed plant moved forward in relative obscurity until recent months when advocacy groups began to publicize the project and both residents and elected officials started questioning whether the congested city is right for the plant they say is in conflict with the state's new climate law.

In a recent letter to the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities, State Rep. Sally Kerans (D-Danvers) said the Waters River substation location near the Peabody and Danvers line already encompasses several "environmental burdens," including Route 128, a propane company, a pipeline.

"The plan before you is for a gas turbine that can rev up to full capacity in 10 minutes, a new 200,000(-gallon) oil tank, a smokestack, an ammonia storage (container), among several components," she wrote. "All of these bring to mind legitimate concerns about the impact on our environment and our health."

She also questioned whether renewal energies have been exhaustive as an alternative to the new plant and why there has been so little public input allowed in the five years of the proposal's development.

Sen. Joan Lovely (D-Salem) and Rep. Thomas Walsh (D-Peabody) wrote letters with similar objections.

"I urge additional public processes for all affected communities before a final decision is made," Lovely said. "Many have concerns about how this plant will impact their immediate environment, questions about the operation of the plant, and how the financing will affect ratepayers.

"It is imperative that the entire process be open to public input and that these concerns, among others, be addressed before final approval."

PMLP released a response to the mounting opposition this week saying the plant is necessary to meet surge capacity of 40 to 50 percent of its "full electric load" in the event of system stress during extremely hot or cold weather, or when other energy resources are offline.

The statement said that while the utility company has done its best to meet these requirements through renewable energy such as wind, hydro and solar, they are not sufficiently reliable in the case of a catastrophic emergency.

"If our capacity isn't ready for your demand there can be problems," the statement said. "The recent blackouts in Texas are an example of a time when there wasn't enough capacity available to meet a spike in demand. ISO New England requires capacity to avoid a situation like the crisis in Texas, where no such requirement exists."

The utility said the plant will have the ability to rev up quickly to meet the surge demand, but will not be used as an extensive source of everyday energy.

"It's this diversified planning that helps to keep your rates low and stable," the statement said. "Helping to satisfy our capacity requirement in addition to our energy requirement, increasingly with renewable resources, is one of the many steps that we are taking at the Peabody Municipal Light Plant to deliver highly reliable electric service while containing costs for our customers."

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(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)