11/7/08
Calling 888-VIOLATE gets results
Neighbors of the Salem Harbor Station please call the DEP hotline number, 1-888-VIOLATE, and report all unusual incidents that you hear, see or smell at the power plant.
These calls are logged and counted, providing valuable data. The volume of calls about real incidents is a critical measure for our government officials telling them that people are aware, concerned and demanding of investigation.
We understand that the many calls that went out regarding the startling sound on Tuesday night will bring the Department of Public Safety out to the plant on Monday to investigate the incident.
Investigations by OSHA and the Department of Public Safety show the fatal explosion at the plant a year ago was caused by lack of basic maintenance and disregard for safety.
All of Dominion's actions confirm that they are running this plant into the ground. It's time for them to be honest with the public about their plans so that employees, taxpayers and the greater community can plan for the future.
Two articles from yesterday's newspapers follow.
Salem News - Startling sound was power plant letting off steam
By Tom Dalton, Staff writer - November 7, 2008
SALEM - A loud noise that lasted several minutes woke up residents early Wednesday morning all the way from the downtown to Salem Willows.
Read more...
Boston Globe - Environmental groups lobby to close Salem Harbor plant, but mayor stresses the need for $4.75m in taxes, revenue
By Steven Rosenberg, Globe Staff οΎ¦ November 6, 2008
Nov. 6, 2007, seemed like any other work day at the Salem Harbor Power Station. After an 8 a.m. meeting, workers dispersed - with three, Matthew Indeglia, Philip Robinson, and Mark Mansfield - scheduled to work on a 130-foot boiler. Forty-six minutes later, the three were covered with ash, steam, and 600-degree water when the boiler's pipes ruptured, burning and killing them.
....For more than a decade, the environmental group HealthLink fought successfully to have the plant reduce its emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and mercury. Read more...
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9/25/08
We'd Rather Be Breathing
We may be reaching a turning point in our campaign to clean up the Salem Power Plant. Facts are emerging about maintenance neglect at the plant and the safety of its employees and neighbors. New groups are aligning with us. There is new data about the harmful health effects of power plant pollution on our cardiovascular and respiratory systems as well as cognitive disorders linked to mercury emissions.
As you know, we are driven by the need to breathe clean air and the dire and rapid need to get off fossil fuels due to global warming. We invite you to add your energy, volunteerism, ideas and/or financial $ contributions to our coalition. Below is a recap of our recent and ongoing work.
Recent Activities
- HealthLink obtained and circulated copies of the Departmentof Safety Incident Report of the Salem Harbor Station explosion to local and state officials, showing serious lapses in routine maintenance and facility neglect. Go to the HealthLink home page to read the report, and view the internal photos of the failed boiler. Contact us, 781-598-1115, for a hard copy.
- In August, Pat Gozemba (HealthLink and SAFE) organized the 'Dominion All Over' forum, examining the economics of the Salem Harbor Station and coal mining practices in the US and beyond. DVDs of the forum are available.
- To increase citizen involvement, we have submitted a proposal to document stack pollution through opacity training certification, and will also monitor coal pile smolderings and soot complaints.
- We continue our outreach and education. Speaking engagements are scheduled at the Nahant Woman's Club, the Salem Explorers for Life Long Learning and Know Breast Cancer in Manchester, Citizen’s Hearing, and the Marblehead Board of Health.
- Power plant workers have been contacting us to tell us their stories of the explosion, safety violations and worker illness.
- A Salem think tank and a new group have formed to analyze the economics of the power plant and visualize future potential for the site.
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8/8/08
Anatomy of a disaster
Photographs included in the Massachusetts Department of Public Safety of the erosion and corrosion of metal on boiler #3 at the SHGS are chilling. The lack of proper upkeep and responsible inspection resulted in the tragic death of three workers. This power plant is not safe - not for its workers, not for its immediate neighbors, and not for the community.
Check out the photos and the full report following the Boston Globe article below.
Boston Globe - Anatomy of a disaster: State condemns lack of inspections at Salem power plant where 3 died in blast
By David Abel and Jonnelle Marte
Globe Staff And Globe Correspondent
August 1, 2008
For 10 years, officials at the Salem Harbor Power Station failed to carry out a crucial annual inspection, an oversight that has been linked to a boiler explosion that killed three employees last year, state officials said yesterday.
A report released yesterday by the Department of Public Safety cited extensive corrosion of tubes near an area of the boiler known as the dead air space - space within the boiler where there is no combustion.
The law requires a thorough external and internal inspection of the boiler, including the dead air space, according to the report.
"This dead air space had not been entered for 10 years, at least," said Commissioner Thomas G. Gatzunis of the Department of Public Safety. "If that's not reflective of incompetence, I don't know what is. You're supposed to look at something once every year, and you don't do it in 10 years? There's no excuse for that." Read more....
For full report from Massachusetts Department of Public Safety report on the Salem Power Plant explosion, go to the HealthLink Home page.
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7/29/08
Salem News - Another view - Connect the Dots: Salem after the power plant
By Majorie Kelly and Pat Gozemba
Like a doddering old uncle, the Salem power plant, owned by Dominion, has been making vague pronouncements lately.
Last week, the Virginia-based company met with the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and other parties to announce its plans to further clean up its emissions to meet state regulations. This plant - one of the notorious "Filthy Five" worst-polluting power plants in the state - has thus far evaded any significant long-term capital investments, choosing instead to merely meet the letter of the law by switching to low-sulfur coal and by maximizing their use of pollution credits. At the DEP meeting, Dominion essentially announced its intention of doing more of the same, using clever Band-Aids to avoid spending real money on the plant.
Let's be clear here about what's going on. Regardless of its words, Dominion's actions indicate its intent. It plans to run this aging power plant into the ground, squeezing out every possible dime of profit and ultimately shutting it down without prior warning to the city.
Along the way, Dominion is further insulting Salem by evading its responsibility to pay its fair share in taxes. Over the last decade, while the property taxes of Salem homeowners nearly doubled, the taxes on the power plant fell by 60 percent. In 1997, the plant paid $8.9 million in property taxes. In 2008, it paid $3.5 million, plus $1.25 million as a so-called "host site fee." The company insisted this fee not be characterized as a tax so it could, in the following year, evade paying it. That's precisely what it's doing. For Fiscal Year 2009, Dominion is offering only $3.5 million.
Too poor to pay fair taxes? Dominion had 2007 revenues of $16 billion and profits of $2.5 billion. That same year, it spent an astronomical $5.8 billion on buying back its own stock. That means the company chose not to upgrade this aging and dangerous coal plant, nor to invest in renewable energy, but instead to engage in a one-time manipulative transaction designed to drive up company stock price and line the pockets of its executives. That's like a father neglecting to feed his own family or to maintain the family home, instead spending all his money on gambling.
The person who benefited most from this maneuver was Dominion CEO Thomas Farrell, whose compensation last year was more than $15 million - largely from stock options. Farrell pocketed four times more than the $3.5 million Dominion is expected to pay Salem in taxes in 2009.
Hang on. It gets worse. Under provisions of the recently enacted Massachusetts Green Communities Act (GCA), Dominion may be able to pass off even more of its tax obligations to the citizens of the state. If the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) - which requires companies that emit carbon dioxide to pay-to-pollute - has an impact on Dominion's profits, then the state under the GCA will help Dominion pay its taxes. Providing this tax relief to the highly profitable Dominion defies the intent of RGGI - forcing large greenhouse gas emitters to clean up or close down. Even worse, it takes renewable energy funds from the GCA and helps a polluter pay its taxes.
Dominion said recently, it plans to keep operating the Salem plant "for years to come." Just how many years? Regional energy coordinator ISO-NE says the plant is needed for minimal power until 2010. After that, no one knows. But we do know that Dominion's cost will be increasing under RGGI.
Dominion may intend to keep the plant open 10 more years. But at that point, the plant will be 66 years old - far beyond its intended 30-year life span. How long can this aging plant be held together with duct tape? Already the workers, the community, and the planet are paying a price.
It bears repeating: Dominion gives every indication that its aim is to run this aging power plant into the ground only to shut it down without prior warning. Consider this: Dominion is investing $1 billion in order to keep Brayton Point operating within the new regulatory requirements intended to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Yet in its recent announcement, the company said it will invest no more than $15 million in the Salem plant. Connect the dots.
Salem deserves better. This valuable oceanfront site could be the home of any number of mixed-use developments - including safe, clean power generation - that could increase tourism, improve the property values of all Salem homes, and enhance the tax base. It's time for Dominion to tell us when it plans to shut down this plant, so we can begin planning for what comes next.
Marjorie Kelly, a Salem resident and senior staffer at Boston's Tellus Institute, was publisher of Business Ethics magazine for 20 years.
Pat Gozemba, also a Salem resident, is a director of Salem Alliance for the Environment and HealthLink.
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Air quality forecasts for Massachusetts are available from the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Air Quality Hotline at 1-800-882-1497 or at www.mass.gov/air.
To report a dirty plume from the Salem Power Plant stacks, call Dominion - 978-740-8200; the Salem Board of Health 978-741-1800; and EPA NE Air Enforcement Chief, Steve Rapp 617-918-1551.
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