Massachusetts’ Undersecretary of Environmental Justice and Equity María Belén Power addresses the crowd of Westfield residents.
Reminder Publishing photo by Trent Levakis
WESTFIELD — Discussions over the controversial proposed batter storage facility in Westfield brought much tension inside Westfield River Elementary on Wednesday, Feb. 26, when a team of state officials stated they could not comment on specific questions and concerns from residents regarding the proposed facility.
The state-sanctioned event was part of the team initiative for the state’s Undersecretary of Environmental Justice and Equity Maria Belén Power who started their upcoming tour to communities across the state in Westfield to hear from residents on environmental concerns. The biggest concern Westfield residents were bringing to the meeting was regarding the proposed battery storage facility.
The first resident to speak during public comment summed up the feelings of almost all residents who spoke during the meeting — that this proposal was not something they were very much interested in. Residents expressed concerns for safety due to facilities like these dealing with explosions and the fact that this proposal is so closely located to the Barnes Aquifer.
“My main concern in coming down here was to find out what this group is going to do to stop bringing in that battery facility that’s scheduled to go into our north side,” said the resident. “I live on the north side, and I really don’t need something that is gonna blow up in my backyard.”
Belén Power responded by saying the group was unable to comment on the ongoing proposal as it was a pending proposal in front of a different state agency.
“This is not the energy facility citing board. In order to that you would have to do it formally through the process of the energy facility signing board,” said Belén Power. “I am not able to comment on a project that is right now in front of [them].”
Audience members immediately voiced frustration to Belén Power’s comments and about a third of residents attending then exited the meeting. Many residents asked out loud what the point of the meeting was then if the body was not able to comment on the proposal directly related to the one item on everyone’s mind.
“The intent of this meeting was not to talk about this particular project, it was to come in and listen to the residents,” Power added before being cut off by groans from the public.
Belén Power tried explaining her newly formed team was beginning a tour of connecting with communities on their environmental concerns, starting with Westfield. She said the group was still happy to receive comments and feedback from the public on any issue even if they could not comment.
Quickly after, Westfield City Councilor Kristen Mello rallied frustrated residents to remind residents that while this situation was disappointing, they still could use this time to make their stance clear to the state body.
“They are here, they’re recording, they’re putting it in different languages for other people, and this will be posted online everywhere,” said Mello. “The message is going to get there. If you walk away from your seat at the table, that message is going to get diluted by the fact that you walked away.”
Mello added that while she was just as frustrated as others, there were legal reasons why the Undersecretary of Environmental Justice team was choosing not to comment. She also then communicated to the group a majority of the concerns shared by the community on this proposed project.
Reminder Publishing photo by Trent Levakis
About halfway through the public expressing their concerns and wants for help, Mayor McCabe spoke bluntly about his disapproval of the lithium battery storage facility.
“My stance has been to work quietly behind the scenes and not fan too many flames because I have to also be the bridge, and I need agencies to work with me in the future. That’s the way you have to go about doing business. So I can guarantee you that secretary Tepper, Kim Driscoll and Maura Healey all know from me, from my mouth, what my stance is. My stance is no, it’s always been no. My arguments are all the same arguments,” McCabe said. “Why in God’s name would we put this over an aquifer is beyond me, I can’t comprehend it.
The proposed battery storage facility from Jupiter Power called “Streamfield Energy Storage” aims to be added to the city’s industrial section on Medeiros Way. In the letter the company states the approximately $170 million project, entirely privately financed, will ultimately yield more than $1 million in annual tax revenue for the city and they were willing to enter a long-term tax agreement to guarantee that revenue for the city of at least 15 years.
McCabe added he still believes in diplomacy with all that being said and the community needed to remember decency is required in this process.
“My biggest worry is that we get the doors closed because we kick somebody off and they said, ‘oh well you just live in Western Massachusetts we’re gonna just stay over in here in Boston,” McCabe said. “They’re very good questions as to why we got Blackrock [the Texas based company that owns Jupiter Power] from Texas. I don’t have the first answer to that. All I can tell you is I have been vociferously fighting every single day I go into my office.”
Many residents pointed to the proximity of the proposed facility in relation to the Barnes Aquifer and found the logic behind placing a battery storage facility so close to a resource like that confounding. A few other residents added it felt as though the state could bypass these concerns and force the project in and more residents needed to be aware of this proposal.
Director of Development for Jupiter Power Dan Watson shared an open letter to McCabe and the City Council dated the same day as the meeting arguing the impacts of the project and the revenue benefits to come as an attempt to ease concerns. He explained the potential tax benefits and the promotion of green energies growing in the region.
As for concerns of the proposed facility’s impact to the Barnes Aquifer, they state the project included environmental protections designed to “meet the requirements of Westfield’s water resource protection standards and ensure potentially harmful products in our batteries are fully isolated from the environment.”
A handful of other residents also pointed out the community felt on their own on this and in a worst-case scenario situation of a facility fire or explosion, they felt there was not enough due diligence being done to show the support required would be there in such an instance.
“If this lights on fire, who is going to be there? And so, the message is you need to stop this, at the executive level. You hear me? You need to stop this,” Mello said to the Undersecretary of Environmental Justice and Equity members.
McCabe added during his comments that his message to the visiting state body was he hoped they listened closely to all the concerns expressed and that this was the number one issue in the city for him moving forward.
“If they are an environmental justice organization, here’s the environmental justice I would like them to take back. You can’t in good conscious put something that local individuals cannot defend themselves from. That’s the environmental justice I know,” McCabe said. “I don’t have the pockets to go out and engage some attorney to fight that battle, so we have to do it collectively and we also have to do it nicely. We have to maintain decorum. We have to maintain an ounce of diplomacy.”
