Despite Walpole's rejection of a proposed power plant, Competitive Power Ventures of Maryland and Braintree is vowing to press ahead with the facility, arguing that it would be safe and an economic boon for the semi-rural town.
Describing an application process that is "at the bottom of the first inning in a nine-inning game," spokesman Scott Farmelant said the power company believes that locating the plant in Walpole "is in everyone's best interests." To sweeten the deal, the company is running ads in local papers pushing a plan to install solar panels on seven town buildings at a cost of $1 a year each, if the town accepts the project and agrees to tax breaks.
"Hopefully, they will listen," Farmelant said. If not, the company has the option of pleading its case to the Massachusetts Energy Facilities Siting Board, which could override the town's decision. Even then, he said, the company would have to obtain 40 strictly regulated local, state, and federal permits for the plant it hopes to open by 2012.
Although an official application has yet to be submitted, Walpole water and sewer officials rejected the proposed natural-gas-fueled facility out of hand last month. So did selectmen, who opted not to enter into negotiations with the company to discuss a payment in lieu of taxes contract, following a year of informal discussions.
What mobilized residents to oppose the plant was the realization, after requesting documents and e-mails under the state's freedom of information law, that citizens had not been included in that year's worth of talks, said activist and former selectwoman Joanne Muti.
Residents who oppose the power plant project have other serious objections, she added. They include plans to store 2 million gallons of backup fuel in above-ground tanks - along with thousands of gallons of ammonia - in the area situated atop the town's primary aquifer. Water usage, estimated at 125,000 gallons a day, is also a concern, she said, as there would be as many as 200 tanker-truck trips a day along Route 1A to refill the backup storage tanks.
"I love where I live and I don't want to move," Muti said. "It's difficult to get beyond the visual of two 250-foot smokestacks. This is definitely a quality of life issue."
Despite the company's continued push, Board of Selectmen chairman Al DeNapoli said the fate of the project is clear.
"Where it goes from here, from the board's point of view, is somewhere else," DeNapoli said in an interview. "It sounds like a perfect storm waiting to happen. To be honest, the more I heard, the more concern I had. There were too many horror stories. It compelled everyone on the board to say: 'No, thank you. We can't risk the aquifer.' It would be sitting precariously close to the well heads."
DeNapoli said there was no effort to exclude residents from discussions: "It's unfortunate that there is this conspiracy theory out there. All we were trying to do is be responsible for all the citizens in town."
The town's decision to reject the project, without an official application, has left S.M. Lorusso and Sons, which owns the industrial site, in a bad spot, said company lawyer Thomas Nannicelli. The corporation, headed by lifelong town resident Antonio Lorusso, has already entered into a binding agreement with Competitive Power Ventures, Nannicelli said.
"People got the impression that the Lorussos could pull out of the deal if the town didn't agree," Nannicelli said.
"But we don't have the right to unilaterally end the deal.
"We don't agree with what [the town] has done," Nannicelli went on. "The Board of Water and Sewer took a vote with nothing in front of them. It's more frustrating because when CPV originally approached my client he told them he wouldn't begin negotiations until they went to the town. And it was only because there was some interest that we went ahead and negotiated a deal."
Meanwhile, Farmelant said the company will continue to adjust the plant proposal, which would cost $500 million to build, employ 20 to 25 skilled workers, and provide as many as 400 local construction jobs.
"That stack height of 250 feet may come down by 10 or 20 feet," he said.
"The water use would be an average of 125,000 gallons a day," compared with 200,000 gallons originally estimated for the air-cooled facility, he said. "We altered the design when we realized the town had restrictions on water."
In stressing how the company could generate $2 million a year for town coffers from the plant, set for 14 acres of the 19.7-acre site, Farmelant said it would take a warehouse or industrial use complex on 226 acres, generating 16,000 car trips a day, to produce comparable cash for the town. "Time will tell about how the community of Walpole feels about this," he said.
But Muti said residents have clearly spoken.
"CPV is touting revenues for a plant of this magnitude in a semi-rural community, but I feel there are some things that money can't buy," she said.
Tonight, selectmen and members of the Planning Board will discuss potential changes to town bylaws regulating businesses with "noxious uses," to see if language can be put in place to offer protection from similar future applications. A proposed change could be put before voters at a Special Town Meeting this spring.
