Coal

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Selectman don't budge from coal plan support

By Marc Munroe Dion
Herald News Staff Reporter
Thu Feb 14, 2008, 09:09 PM EST

Somerset -
Despite some opposition in town, selectmen continue to support a proposed coal gasification project at Somerset Station. The board made that clear at Wednesday’s meeting, when they refused to grant a town resident's request that they publicly oppose the project.

Asked by resident Raymond Jussaume to take a stand against coal gasification, the selectmen refused, with Selectman Lorne Lawless taking the lead.

“This is the best we can do now,” Lawless said of the technology, noting that coal gasification is expected to cut emissions of mercury, sulfur dioxide and nitric oxide by 96 to 97 percent.

Lawless said the plant still will emit some pollutants, including carbon dioxide, but said that short of shutting down the plant, the new process is still the best deal for the environment.

“Let’s shut them all down and go back to the horse and buggy,” Lawless said.

Somerset Power LLC, owned by NRG Energy, the 10th largest American power company, wants to retrofit Somerset Station’s 50 year-old boiler to a plasma gasification process which breaks down coal into its component parts before converting it into energy. Opponents, including the newly founded Massachusetts Clean Air Coalition, say that will result in an emissions increase of 28,258,770 tons of carbon dioxide over the lifespan of the plant as compared to a 2010 shutdown. NRG Energy has said that opponents’ estimate of pollutants released into the atmosphere by the coal gasification process is skewed because the increase in pollutants is compared to a total shutdown of the plant, not to what the plant would emit in the same time period if it remained coal-fired.

In a final permit issued last month by the state Department of Environmental Protection, the commonwealth said it would allow the plant’s owner, NRG, to adopt experimental coal plasma gasification technology as well as a controversial plan to burn construction debris and natural fuel, such as wood from trees trimmed or felled by municipalities.

Jussaume said he, like many of those who attended an anti-gasification meeting at the AMVETS Hall Monday night, is concerned that the plant will eventually burn construction and demolition debris.

“Their permit does not allow them to burn construction materials,” Lawless said. “If you think we’re going to let them burn plastic, that will never happen.”

Like Lawless, Board of Selectmen Chairman William Meehan said the technology isn’t perfect, but is the best available option.

“It’s a good first step,” Meehan said.
Selectwoman Eleanor Gagnon said she believes much of the opposition to coal gasification comes from a lack of understanding.

She said she’d like to see NRG hold another informational meeting, similar to one held a month ago, so more residents could learn about the process.

E-Mail Marc Munroe Dion at [e-mail].

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