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Category Archives: Environment

Biomass

If Biomass Could Turn Back Time; Appeals Court Found a Way…

This past Wednesday, the Massachusetts Appeals Court overturned a lower court ruling and, in effect, reanimated—although did not fully resurrect—the prospect of a biomass plant in Springfield. The decision gives the biomass plant proposed for Page Boulevard enough life to punch open the project’s coffin.

Springfield

Take My Council, Please: As the Tree Fund Turns, er, Revolves…

SPRINGFIELD—The City Council sped through a thin agenda Monday that included a final realization of the new tree ordinance. Earlier this year, the Council approved a revamped arboreal code including fines and fees for removing public trees. However, the creation of the fund to use

State Office Building Springfield, MA

Has MassDEP Decapitated Springfield Biomass at Long Last?…

The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection may have driven a stake through the heart of the nigh-undead biomass power plant proposed for Springfield. In a five-page decision dated April 2, the department said it pulled the air quality permit amid growing public pressure and heightened

Lederman Markey

Markey Grabs a Shovel to Help Bury Zombie Biomass Project…

UPDATED 2/22/21 10:09AM: To include a statement from DEP and to include comments from Sen. Warren’s office. SPRINGFIELD—United States Senator Ed Markey joined opponents of the ever-undead proposal to build a biomass power plant here to voice his support for stopping the project once and

Take My Council, Please: Still Burning through Agendas…

SPRINGFIELD—Aside from its atypical procedure to a select a new Council President, the City Council here glided through its last meeting of 2020. This Hell-spawned year had driven the body from its friendly-enough confines to cyberspace for nearly all of 2020. Monday was no different.

Our One Hundredth: Leveraging a Position in Hampshire County…

Our One Hundredth is an occasional series on Massachusetts’s US Senate Elections. WILLIAMSBURG—The candidates for the Democratic US Senate nomination have been barnstorming the state since the race erupted last September. At this stage, neither have ceded territory favorable to the other, but patterns of

West Springfield Town Hall

Briefings: Polyethylene Purge Crosses the River to Westside…

UPDATED 6/13/19 1:55PM: To include comments on the plastic bag ban from Mayor Reichelt. Following its larger, liked-named neighbor across the river, West Springfield has banned single-use plastic bags at retailers. The measure passed through the Town Council last week. As with Springfield’s measure, it

Springfield

Take My Council, Please: Banned in Boston…& Now Springfield?…

SPRINGFIELD—After weeks and months of fits and starts, the City Council passed its ban on the free distribution of plastic bags. However, passage came at the expense of the fee on non-plastic bags provided at retail, intended to discourage consumer use of single-use bags regardless