Salem Harbor Power Plant

Not too long ago a new billboard was welcomed to the neighborhood,
all I can remember was a black power plant bearing the website stoptheplantnow.org
I passed it several times constantly reminding myself to check it out, but kept forgetting.
I finally have and am troubled by the outcome.

It involves the Salem Harbor Power Plant which resides less than a mile from my house.
When I had gone to Salem High School my science teacher Mr. Warren had warned us of the dangers the toxins this plant emitted had posed to the residents of the city.
It quickly dawned on me that he was actively trying to shut down the plant when he informed us he had once held a demonstration in which he climbed to the top of the coal stack and stuck a headstone on top of it.
My concerns would later diminish once I learned one of its 2 stacks were being replaced with a cleaner alternative stack.

I now understand this substitution was not a sufficient overhaul.
Marblehead and Salem have elevated cancer rates far above the state average,
many believe this is a direct effect of what is #3 of the "Filthy Five" power plants in Massachusetts.
Built in 1951 the plant can power up to 750k homes but currently generates enough for 300k.
It pays $4.75 million a year to the city of Salem.
A 2000 Harvard study linked the Salem Harbor & Brayton Point power plants
to more than 43k asthma attacks & 300k incidents of upper respiratory symptoms per year.
It also attributed 159 premature deaths per year to the pollution.
The health risks are greatest for those that live closest to the plants.
20% of the health impact occurs on 8% of the population that lives within 30 miles.

The Conservation Law Foundation filed a $10 million lawsuit against Dominion,
the company responsible for the plant
claiming they exceeded the Clean Air Pollution Acts allowances 317 times in the past 5 years.
Dominion claims the plant is safe and will continue to run until at least the summer of 2012.
In 2007 3 workers were killed when a boiler exploded,
it was later discovered that officials failed to carry out crucial annual inspections for the past 10 years.
Dominion's 2007 revenue was nearly $16 billion with a pre-tax profit of $4.5 billion
though 3 years after the accident the company still hasn't settled with the families of the deceased.

In 2000 the Foundation sued because the plant was dumping coal ash into pits which contaminated groundwater though Dominion settled and cleaned up the mess.

A little research shows that Dominion was one of the top 3 contributors of the 30 biggest utilities companies to former president Bush & the RNC from 1999-2004.
Upon a 2007 visit to Salem, former Governor Mitt Romney (R-MA) pointed to the plant and shouted
"that plant kills people!"
Same year the plant dumped 276,492 lbs. of toxic carcinogens on the city.

Healthlink.org
VisionforSalem.org

petition 1
petition 2