Save Our Bay rally/Nuclear Decommissioning Citizens Advisory

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WHEN: Monday, September 26, 2022 Save Our Bay MA
WHERE: Plymouth Town Hall Green, 26 Court Street, Plymouth, MA
WHAT:1. 5:00-6:15 PM Save Our Bay MA coalition rally2. 6:30-8:30 PM

Nuclear Decommissioning Citizens Advisory Panel meeting in Town Hall Great Hall.

WHY: Over a million gallons of radioactive water are currently stored on the Pilgrim site awaiting final disposal. Holtec claims it is considering four options and will announce a final decision in September/October. But by all indications, their real intention is to dump the radioactive water into Cape Cod Bay. This would cause irreparable damage to the health of our families, livelihoods of our coastal communities and real estate values, viability of fishing industries, and habitat of marine life. We need to protect our community. AND dumping is ILLEGAL!

WE MUST KEEP THIS FROM HAPPENING!

Mark DeCristoforo, Executive Director of the MA Seafood Collaborative, states, "The women and men who daily harvest our seas to provide healthy, local, sustainable food to the Commonwealth and the nation say NO to Holtec's environmental vandalism and stand with Save Our Bay MA to stop dumping."

Mary Lampert, Director of Pilgrim Watch declares, "If Holtec discharges its 1.1 million gallons of radiological and chemically contaminated wastewater into Cape Cod Bay, it is illegal-plain and simple. Both the MA Protected Ocean Sanctuaries Act and the EPA/State discharge permit say NO WASTE WATER can be dumped-ZERO. Holtec's filtration cannot filter out all contamination-period.

Beth Casoni, Executive Directivor of the MA Lobstermen's Association asserts, "The MA Lobstermen's Association is completely against dumping of ANY radioactive water in Cape Cod Bay. The unintended consequences to the commercial fishing industry are unfathomable."

Christine Silva, Broker Associate, 2022 Board of Directors, MA Association of Realtors reports, "Realtors here on the South Shore and Cape Cod are now experiencing impacts of the proposed plans within their markets. Clients are losing interest in the area due to concerns about pollution, negative health impacts, and long term value loss."

Henrietta Cosentino, League of Women's Voter of the Plymouth Area comments, "By the 2020 MA AGO Settlement Agreement with Holtec, Holtec's dumping of radioactive waters into our bay is not just dangerous but illegal."

Janet Tauro, Clean Water Action, NJ Board Chair, on Holtec dumping at Oyster Creek, NJ, “None of the options for disposal of the wastewater could be called good, and it will come down to choosing the least bad. However, transparency is key and not happening in NJ. A batch of radioactive wastewater was released a few days prior to volunteers re-clamming Barnegat Bay. Don’t you think they would have like to have known what was in the water before they got in it?”

Diane Turco, Director of Cape Downwinders concludes, "We all agree. Our beautiful bay is not a commodity that Holtec can abuse for profit but a pristine natural environment we cherish, protect, and share with respect. Holtec must remove dumping from their discharge plan immediately. Holtec threatens an action that is illegal. We have a moral obligation to protect our environment for future generations. Water is life. Holtec-NO WAY IN OUR BAY! NOT ONE DROP!

Background:In signing the MA/Holtec Settlement Agreement with the Commonwealth, Holtec agreed to comply with relevant state regulations, several of which make it clearly illegal to release chemically and radiologically contaminated water into our Bay. The MA Protected Ocean Sanctuaries Act prohibits dumping. The Environmental Protection Agency told Holtec NO DISCHARGE from the spent fuel pool. Yet dumping remains Holtec's preferred plan.

The stakeholders have spoken loud and clear! There is universal community opposition to this plan. Cape Cod and South Shore townships, environmental organizations, fishing, real estate, and tourism groups, indigenous communities, and our state and federal elected officials are all united. We call on Holtec to be environmentally responsible and contain the radioactive wastewater from the environment by not dumping into our bay.

JOIN OUR COMMUNITY ON MONDAY, September 26 

5:00 PM to SPEAK OUT- NO DUMPING IN OUR BAY.

6:30 PM NDCAP Meeting with Holtec, state officials, and citizen panelists. 

Public comment period is open to all. ALSO At 4:00 PM, there will be an Interfaith Ceremony at Town Brook Park co-sponsored by Congregation Beth Jacob, Green Shoal, and the Peace Pagoda of Leverett, MA. For more information, contact Harriet Jerushko Korim at jerushko17@gmail.com.
Carpooling available at: https://www.groupcarpool.com/t/ybvhez

Zoom access to NDCAP: September 26, 2022

The vendor handling the deactivation of the nuclear power plant was recently stopped from their plan to dump one Million gallons of radioactive wastewater from the cooling rods into the harbor and were hit with a temporary cease and desist order. The Nuclear Radiation Committee [NRC} is holding an informational session for the townspeople on May 9th, 2022 at the 1620 hotel on the waterfront. This information will be updated after that meeting 

ADDENDUM UPDATE  To Holtec Nuclear Decommissioning Situation:

The May 2022 meeting in Plymouth, included many of the Massachusetts delegation in addition to town representatives and the many Citizen Groups such as, Save our Bay, was headed by Senator Edward Markey. After all sides were heard, Holtec agreed to delay dumping anything in the bay during 2022 until a plan and a testing company selected [WHOI} Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, to evaluate the mineral deposits left in the water. These elements include tritium which cannot be filtered out and would bioaccumulate to unhealthy levels, critics say. 

A subsequent meeting with the NRC [Nuclear Regulation Committee] determined that nothing should be done until the contents of the 1 million gallons of radioactive waste was tested by WHOI [Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute] who could certify the contents of this waste.

Then, Holtec may apply to the NRC for permission with the attached results of the testing

Holtec, under pressure to preserve as much of the monies deposited in the nuclear depository, which was initially in the billions, kept stating that there was nothing unusual in dumping in the water and it has been done in many parts of the US. The cost of trucking the nuclear wastewater to a depository is many times costlier than local dumping and time consuming while they are trying to complete the decommissioning process. Other alternatives are evaporation on site which requires a long period of time, storing the water indefinitely on site would delay the decommissioning process and resulting payoff to Holtec as well as incurring continual expense to the host community.

This situation is already negatively impacting Plymouth’s industries of tourism, fishing, and real estate. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission who has oversight over the disposal of radioactive materials has refuted Holtec’s claims that their National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Permit and the states settlement permit prior to decommissioning, allow it to do so.

Senator Susan Moran [D-Falmouth] filed a bill included in the Senates Economic Development Package to fund the Dept of Public Health [DPH} for oversight, which has been signed off by Gov Baker in the $52.7 Billion fiscal 2023 budget. It further recommended to have a commission study the economic and environmental impacts of the discharge of spent fuel water into the states waterways and that is in committee presently.   

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

www.savethebayma.com 

Thoroughbred Horse Racing in Plymouth Mass on a 100 acre plot owned by the county Government. An informational meeting for the public will be held on April 26th at memorial hall from 6-9 PM. This proposal contained on the town website could include a hotel and other recreational facilities .This proposal was approved by the Board of Selectmen for further consideration at a April meeting. 

UPDATE  to the proposed Horse Racing Track on 100 acres

Sept 2022

The April informational meeting was well attended and a great deal of opposition was expressed to this use of the 110 acres, but it is owned by Plymouth County Government, a leftover, colonial  overlapping authority needed in many thinly populated parts of the country, but should be abandoned in the crowded Northeast This site off Long Pond Road , called County Woodlot, is off Camelot Drive to Tall Pines RD near to Plymouth’s major aquifer and accessed by its most congested exit 15.

A non- binding referendum on the May 2022 ballot was for the voters feeling about this proposal and it was soundly defeated 7098 to 970, about 88% of the voters were against a racetrack in particular. The board of selectman with a 5-0 vote, sent a strong letter to the proposed lessee and the county commissioners that no racetrack will ever be approved at this site.

Following this denial, the lessee, Boston South Real Estate and Development LLC still went ahead and signed a three year lease triggering a 90 day initial due diligence period where they would like to explore the viability of the site for a number of purposes. The parcel is 106 acres with 2 additional lots owned by the county to total 110 acres. At the conclusion of 90 days, they will decide whether to continue the full lease period which would bring the cost to $450,000. The due diligence period could cost them up to $6 million to include all the site surveys, and soil testing and how various infrastructures would set on the property. If they do not find a good use for these parcels, they could seek other developmental opportunities.

Development of the site, if everything fit their plans, could take years and cost upward of $500 Million.

In late July, the Board of Selectmen devoted their entire meeting to this subject, and it was led by Matt Muratore, the State Representative, who had extensive experience in the legislature to insure there was no workaround on the subject of horse racing. Muratore mentioned the law  strictly addresses Horse Racing including  a special section in the legislature Chapter 128 , section A & C. this section  has a set of laws, settled in 1950, that reaffirms the control of land must follow Mass laws which has protections for cities and towns to control their land use, no matter who owns the land.

The Mass Gaming Commission is changing their application requirements to strengthen the towns/cities control over the land within their jurisdiction.

The last words from Boston South’s Director of Planning sent an upbeat letter to the town manager, Derek Brindisi that they hope to bring new opportunities to Plymouth in the near future.