In October MDN told you that the only nuclear power plant operating in Massachusetts, the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Plymouth, MA, is closing down (see Massachusetts’ Only Nuclear Plant Closing – NatGas to the Rescue!). Which makes natural gas pipelines to the region all the more urgent and necessary. Natural gas is the only viable alternative fuel for producing electricity in New England. The region already has the highest electric rates in the country–typically four times that of other regions. Without more electrical generating plants, it’s not a choice of paying even more–it’s a choice of going without. As in brownouts and blackouts. The Pilgrim Nuclear Power Plant produces 680 megawatts of electricity. Every megawatt counts, so a company in Rockland, Maine, calling itself the Rockland Energy Center, has proposed building a new natural gas-fired power plant that would produce 35 megawatts of electricity. Some of the crazies who live in the town object because the plant will use a “fossil fuel” to power it–so City Council is set to consider a six-month moratorium on any new power plants to give them time to figure out how to permanently disallow such plants. Rockland Energy is talking about walking away from the community and taking the considerable amount of tax money they would pay with them. Talk about stupid people who sit on city councils!…
