The local health board in Springfield, Massachusetts has recommended that a proposed wood-burning power plant be subject to additional review.
After months of deliberation, the Springfield Public Health Council voted 6-1 Wednesday night to recommend a site assignment hearing for the controversial project. The city’s health commissioner, Helen Caulton-Harris, must now decide whether to convene the hearing process.
Activists, led by Michaelann Bewsee of Arise for Social Justice argue the biomass energy plant would be a danger to the public’s health.
" We believe the public health council not only has the right, but also the responsibility, to hold a site assignment hearing," she said.
Palmer Renewable Energy contends the local health board has no jurisdiction and has threatened to sue if the 8-year-old project is delayed further.
