Power proposal slammed

Officials condemn firm's sales pitch

Though Brockton officials appear dead set against a proposed 350-megawatt power-generating plant in the city, the company intent on building the facility is already promoting its benefits to surrounding communities. Brockton officials want that to stop.

On Monday, the city's Finance Committee unanimously passed a resolution condemning a sales pitch by Brockton Clean Energy to such towns as Abington and Whitman. A company official says Brockton Clean Energy is simply trying to show how the plant would also benefit the city's neighboring communities.

Next Tuesday, the City Council is slated to vote on whether to reaffirm the Finance Committee sentiment, council president Robert Sullivan said.

"I'm not really fond of the tactics they are using," Sullivan said of the power company. "There is a fine line between marketing and misleading."

Meanwhile, a regional task force involving towns that could be affected by the power plant is to meet for the first time tonight at 7 p.m. at the Howard School in West Bridgewater.

West Bridgewater Selectman Matthew Albanese is leading the regional effort, which he has said is not to oppose or endorse the plan, but to gather information to "help filter out the misinformation coming from opposing camps."

The approval of the plant is not the city's decision. The company opted to bypass local zoning and planning boards and take its proposal to the Massachusetts Energy Facility Siting Board, which is expected to vote in December. Still, officials from Brockton and the task force's communities are hoping to have some influence on the state's decision.

The Finance Committee's vote on Monday came in response to a letter that Ron Kelley, project manager for Brockton Clean Energy's parent company, recently sent to neighboring towns. The parent company is Swiss-based Advanced Power AG.

In that letter, Kelley suggested ways those communities could benefit from the plant that, to date, Brockton's City Council and mayor have repeatedly rebuffed. Though the proposed Oak Hill Way Industrial Park site is zoned for industrial use, officials say its proximity to downtown and residential areas raises environmental and health concerns.

Kelley's letter said Advanced Power wants to cool the plant's 250-foot smokestack with effluent from Brockton's waste-water treatment plant. The process would remove more than 1 million gallons of effluent from the city's daily limit of 18 million gallons at the plant, he said. That, in turn, would provide more sewage-disposal capacity for neighboring towns that contract with the treatment plant.

Brockton City Council members, elected officials in other towns, and members of Stop the Power, a grass-roots group opposing the plant, have used words like "outrageous" to describe the company's efforts.

But Kelly said he was only trying to point out the opportunities offered by the plant.

"We in no way wanted to step on toes," he said. "But there is absolutely no impact on health or public safety. This is a $300 million investment that will provide millions to the city."

Advanced Power spokesman Josh Levitt said he and Kelly have spoken with dozens of city residents who feel "a tremendous sense of relief" once they hear the company's explanations.

"People want to understand what is really happening," he said. "I'm hoping Brockton can get over itself and figure out there is a lot of money here in treating our water, in taxes, and that there is no health impact."

Sullivan stressed, however, that officials and residents are more than aware of how the plant could affect their lives.

"This is the City of Champions, and we are not going to let them wear us down," he said. "And we are not going to be pushed around."

Michele Morgan Bolton can be reached at mmbolton1@ verizon.net