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Chelsea fights to keep giant ethanol trains from rumbling through town
By adamg on Fri, 03/09/2012 - 7:46am
Boston has gasoline trucks in the North End and now Chelsea has ethanol trains headed to Revere. The Chelsea Record reports Chelsea is trying to get other communities along the proposed train's route - basically, the Fitchburg commuter line - to join it in opposing the idea. The ethanol would be mixed into local gasoline supplies at a Revere facility.
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Comments
Chelsea City Manager prefers 320 trucks over one train?
That's what he says in the article. How 320 tractor-trailers will fit through Chelsea is quite a puzzle, though.
Well, they all seem to know that transporting ethanol to Revere is inevitable, because:
1) they drive cars
2) there's a big federal push for ethanol additives in gasoline
3) the railroads are governed by federal interstate commerce laws and have to transport any cargo they're requested to move
What I don't understand is why so many people are rallying against the safest, cheapest, and most environmentally friendly way to move this cargo.
People don't mind driving (or walking) within feet of trucks carrying municipal waste, raw sewage, radioactive soil, acid/other hazmats, and fuel....but when it's going to be hauled by a TRAIN!!! everyone starts crying about safety and property values.
It's well-known that one train car holds the equivalent of 3-4 tractor trailers. So while people argue that a truck at a time seems safer, they completely fail to understand that there are 4x as many trucks with 4x as many engines, clogging roadways and spewing diesel exhaust.
I understand the density issue in Chelsea, but this anti-train thing is happening all over the suburbs, too (see Winchester and Grafton). "How DARE the railroad transport our fuel and waste anywhere near OUR backyard! But dozens of trucks are okay. We understand things with rubber tires."
No more environmental injustices in Chelsea!
The only difference between Chelsea and the suburbs are Chelsea Creek already storage 80% of heating oil for New England, 100% of the Logan airport jet fuel, road salt for 250 towns and cities. In addition, the second largest produce center is located in Chelsea and Everett. Around 37,000 trucks passed through the gates annually. I can go on and on explaining all the disproportionally sources of pollution located in our community. We had some many environmental burdens. Enough is enough. We don't want train, we don't want more trucks. This is an environmental injustice, for that reason we are fighting against it.
Hi there, I do not speak for
Hi there,
I do not speak for the City Manager in Chelsea but as a City Councillor in Chelsea (I have also held the position as Chair of his Evaluation Committee in the past where we gave him a glowing review) I think I can tackle some of your points. I also co-sponsored the resolution that the Chelsea City Council passed asking that the DEP not allow this to happen...
1) Yes, we are all aware that trucks carrying ethanol are dangerous. Believe me, I am 30 years old and have been fighting these sorts of things for 15 years. I am honestly getting a little tired of trying to choose between the lesser of two evils. The difference is that a train that is a MILE LONG going through a zone that includes every school in the City of Chelsea and thousands of residents can do so much more damage. In addition we are dealing with a potential terrorist target in the train versus a truck. Yes a truck can be a target but the train would be a more lucrative hit. Before you say that is silly, please consider how vulnerable the trains are. I have personally lived in apartments with clear views of passing trains, there is no way to fully secure them.
2) Gulf has a history of claiming things are safe only to have that claim be proven false. They claimed that a spill of oil in the Chelsea Creek would be next to impossible, until it happened. Luckily it was just oil, it damaged ecology and no deaths were reported. I would shutter to think what an ethanol explosion would do.
3) I would like to point out that we house more than our fair share. Between the LNG tanks in Everett (less than 2 miles from my house), all the oil for Massport (Id say a half mile from my house) , to the road salt that salts the roads of the CommonWealth (Maybe a mile away from my house) and of course the 2nd biggest produce market in the country that supplies the local stores across New England with produce (trucks, trucks and more trucks) we shoulder the burden of the state. I hate to be a NIMBY but my back yard is full, enough is enough.
4) The incoming train represents more ethanol than Gulf would be able to take in by truck. You take the incoming trucks off the road but add even more outgoing trucks. So you end up with a net gain of truck traffic carrying this stuff anyway.
5) I was called a NIMBY when I protested the possible siting of a Diesel Power Plant within blocks of our 1-4th grade school... The same school that is within a block of these same train tracks. I invite you to tell their parents that we are being too protectionist when it comes to the safety of their children.
6) We have the airport over our heads as well, along with East Boston and Winthrop. Yet our population does not fly as often as others in the Boston Area. The median income of Chelsea for a family is 40,000 a year. Most people reading this right now make more than that themselves, I would venture to guess that my residents drive less than the State average as well.
7) Yes it is an interstate issue when it comes to the actually trains. We are fighting the placement of the facility. Once the facility is built we can not fight the trains, which is why this is very important.
I took a few years off of the council but won in November, mainly based off of my willingness to stand up to fight for the residents of Chelsea. I would like to spend more time on development and other issues in the city but people keep trying to build Diesel Plants next to schools, asphalt plants in dense areas, LNG tanks, giant salt piles and all sorts of other threats to the health of our residents. Each of these alone would not be a "be all end all" but we face incremental threats every time someone builds a new facility like this. Try building any of these things in a more wealthy suburb and see what happens.
I hope I shed some light on why people oppose this?
Community Burden is a Critical Issue
Sufficiently critical that the EPA Environmental Justice program documents that I have been peer-reviewing and commenting on will likely demand that the total community burden of environmental risks be considered in permitting decisions.
That is because, while each of these situations, taken alone, don't seem to add up to much risk in singular, they add up to a whole lot of dumping of toxic risk on communities that can't seem to fight back under the "divide and excuse" system of individual permitting decisions.
Chelsea is well known nationally as such a "dump all your shit here and then tell the people they are upset over nothing" communities. It isn't unique in the US in this regard. It is pretty singular in MA for the degree of community burden of risk, however, and claiming that a single project isn't enough to matter or that the community is already so burdened that it doesn't matter is disingenuous.
Let's see how many people would be making these condescending comments if this was slated for Weston, which is too special and precious for even a damn bike path or water reservoir!
Weston not sufficiently precious for a reservoir
Not to disagree with your main point, but there's this: Norumbega Covered Storage Facility. It's the huge hill-like thing just outbound from the Weston tolls on the turnpike, and it replaced the Norumbega Reservoir, also in Weston.
Well Aware of That
A friend of mine was in charge of some aspects of the siting - and was very frustrated with some Weston resident's threats to sue her personally, etc. over it being sited there, as well as their spurious attempts to portray the construction of the covered storage as defiling a heretofore pristine wilderness.
So, yes, it got built. However, some in Weston felt defiled by the imposition of the social contract upon their precious town.
Good to see that people care about environmental justice
When we do hear about social justice in MA, it often seems like a way for 'non'-profit directors, 'community leaders', and their friends to get paid, and then these people are incentived to perpetuate the problems rather than solve them. And also a way for local politicians to win the approval of voting blocs who get program money thrown in their general direction.
What I want to see more of things like awareness-raising that Chelsea is being used as a dumping ground, and people actively *solving* problems of social justice.
Well put re: community burden
You are standing up firmly for your community, and articulating the arguments in a way that makes Chelsea look good. Unlike many in a similar position, you don't come across as an ignorant, angry crank. This speaks well for you, for the people who elected you, and for your future in public policy, if that's the path you choose to take. Best wishes!
Lots and lots of grade crossings
If these huge trains are coming down the Fitchburg Line from Ayer they are going through lots of street crossings -- not just in Chelsea, but also in Somerville, Cambridge, Belmont, Waltham, Weston, Lincoln, Concord, and Acton. And probably further west as well, though I'm less familiar with that area. I hope a late-night drunk driver never gets in the way of these trains.
I also wonder about the noise impact of 60-car freight trains during non-MBTA hours (meaning, on this combination of lines, between 1:30 and 5:30 am). In Cambridge, Somerville, Belmont, and probably elsewhere, the train tracks are in lots of people's back yards.
Even with all this, I'm not necessarily against the plan if it will pollute less than the equivalent number of trucks, but I'd like to hear much more detail.
Where are they getting their figure of "25 cities and towns" from? I count 15: Ayer, Littleton, Boxboro, Acton, Concord, Lincoln, Weston, Waltham, Belmont, Cambridge, Somerville, Boston (a little bit), Everett, Chelsea, Revere.