Plant's foes aim anger at city chief

A rally against a proposed diesel-burning power plant in Chelsea this week turned into public criticism of City Manager Jay Ash and accusations that the City Council is unwilling to stand up to him.

A crowd of Chelsea Green Space members , residents, parents, church leaders, and students focused their chants Monday on Ash, who argues that the 240-megawatt power plant could bring in a minimum of $500,000 in annual property tax revenue.

Energy Management Inc. has not filed an official proposal for the plant yet, Ash said, making any criticism of the project premature. He said he has a responsibility to the residents of Chelsea to review all the facts before making a judgment against it.

The council, which met Monday after the rally, delayed voting on a resolution by Councilor Roseann Bongiovanni to officially oppose the proposal. That resolution is scheduled to be addressed at the council's next meeting on Sept. 25.

Chanting ``We want clean and green, not cash, Jay Ash!," a crowd of about 60 people gathered outside City Hall before the start of the Council meeting, handing out to homeward-bound commuters multilingual leaflets that denounced the plant and its proposed location near the Mary C. Burke Elementary School complex .

The demonstrators then entered the City Council chambers wearing surgical masks and holding signs that stated, ``Environmental Justice for All " and ``No Power Plant." They spoke for more than an hour against the proposal.

State Senator Jarrett Barrios , who represents Chelsea and is chairman of the Joint Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security, also spoke. He began by praising Ash's commitment to Chelsea and said he supports Ash's reappointment when his contract with the city expires next June. But he said he would not support the proposed power plant.

Barrios quoted a report that states the city is number one in the state for asthma hospitalizations, stroke, and cardiovascular disease, and asked the council to consider these statistics during deliberations.

``I will oppose this at the state level," Barrios said. ``A representation has been made to me by supporters of this proposal that, if [the power plant is] constructed, the air will be cleaner. I find that dubious, to be honest."

Ash declined to comment on Barrios's statements.

Officials for Energy Management Inc., the same company that has proposed the offshore Cape Wind project in Nantucket Sound, have asked residents and city officials to hold off criticisms until they have reviewed the proposal.

``At a minimum, fair-minded people should reserve judgment until a reliable factual record has been assembled," company president Jim Gordon wrote in a letter, responding to a memo Bongiovanni sent to city officials this month. The company has said that the diesel-burning power plant would run only during peak energy times to prevent blackouts across New England. Gordon also noted that the plant would use a combustion turbine technology with a lower emission rate than diesel technology.

Addressing the council Monday, resident Henry Lea noted that state and local politicians in the past have allowed the placement of oil tanks in the city; construction of the Tobin Bridge, which split the city in half and led to higher vehicle emissions; construction of the Everett power plant that ``blows all the pollution into Chelsea;" and the transformation of the shore into a port area.

``When do city officials say `Stop'?" Lea said.

While speakers, including some from Revere and East Boston, brought up concerns about increased health problems and lower property values, others accused Ash, who lives in Danvers, of not caring for the city's quality of life because a power plant will not affect his family. Ash said his residency is irrelevant.

``While it's true that I don't sleep here, when I'm sleeping, I'm dreaming about Chelsea," Ash said, adding that the city is experiencing a renaissance that he is proud to have been a part of.

He said he expects to receive an official proposal from the company this month, and will hire a consultant to go over it. ``Until I am able to get the facts when I get them this month, it's not appropriate for me to be opposed to it. I've had multiple discussions with [Energy Management Inc.] , and so far it does not appear to be harmful to the environment, and may actually clean the air that Chelsea breathes. If an angry group of people believes that no power plant can be a good power plant, I urge them to check the facts."

Ash said he has turned away other proposals for that site that could have generated more than $500,000 in revenue for the city because they would harm the area's environment and air quality. The contaminated site, which was the former home of Northeast Petroleum , is a designated industrial port area with many state zoning restrictions, Ash said. For this reason, only industrial developments can go on the site, most of which would attract the type of heavy trucking activity that Ash said he opposes near the school complex and its 2,000 students.

Ash said that Energy Management Inc. officials told him that the emissions impact of the power plant would be ``equal to one round-trip truck passage by the school an hour, when operating during the worst conditions. That's an insignificant emission and that's why I'm intrigued."

City Council president Paul Nowicki said he was pleased that so many residents showed up to speak on this issue, but called the personal attacks on Ash and the council ``disrespectful and classless." He said he has asked the city solicitor to review Bongiovanni's resolution, which asks the council to oppose the proposal even before it has been filed. In the meantime, Nowicki said he will ask at the next council meeting that the resolution be addressed in public conferences he hopes to schedule for October.

T.J. Hellmann , program coordinator at Chelsea Green Space, which organized the rally, said he was pleased to see that six of the 11 councilors had attached their names to Bongiovanni's resolution opposing the power plant. Green Space officials, he said, will meet soon to determine whether they will hold another rally before the council meeting on Sept. 25.

``People are upset. Parents are really upset; they can't believe it," Hellmann said.

``There's always that tension of Jay not living here. When things come up like this, people's first reactions are, `If Jay's kids were going [to that school], would he still do it?' "

Katheleen Conti can be reached at kconti@globe.com.