Energy Facilities Siting Bd. approves controversial substation proposal along the Chelsea Creek site

Despite widespread community opposition as well as opposition from over a dozen Massachusetts elected officials the state’s Energy Facilities Siting Board (EFSB) unanimously approved Eversource’s highly controversial plan to build a new substation along the Chelsea Creek in East Boston on Monday afternoon. 

In a marathon meeting that lasted several hours and the adoption of several amendments to Eversource’s plan that included a safety plan, flood zone management and community mitigation the board eschewed Eastie’s and Chelsea’s already overburdened industrial infrastructure and rubber stamped the plan. 

Despite state Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Kathleen Theoharides saying at Monday’s hearing that the substation would be placed in a “heavily, heavily industrialized area within an environmental justice community that has historically suffered disproportionate environmental harms and a heavy burden of infrastructure” she still voted in favor of Eversource’s plans as an EFSB board member. 

During the hearing Theoharides dismissed historic calls for leaders to begin exploring a move to more renewable energy and begin taking climate change seriously as a ‘false politically motivated narrative”. 

“This context has weighed heavily on my mind as I’ve spent the last two weeks thinking about this decision, since our last meeting,” said Theoharides. “The notion that a substation is part of a fossil fuel past is a false politically motivated narrative. Substations are a piece of infrastructure that will be critical in our ever growing electrification of building and transportation sectors.”

Although she conceded that substations may deliver increasing amounts of clean and renewable energy produced by wind and solar in the future. 

But as of now Theoharides said, “the communities of East Boston and Chelsea have a right to reliable electricity”.

John Walkey, an Eastie resident and member of the Chelsea’s GreenRoots who has been fighting the substation plan, said EFSB’s decision, while disappointing, is hardly surprising.
“We know that our national regulatory system for our energy sector is dominated by the regulated industry, so why should Massachusetts be any different?,” said Walkey. “It does really expose the hypocrisy of those who talk up climate resiliency and social equity while at the same time continue accepting money from corporations like Eversource and effectively doing their bidding. This is not what democracy looks like; it is what systemic environmental racism looks like. And this is not the end of this fight by a long shot.”

Walkey said activists plan to appeal this decision to the State Supreme Judicial Court and will be challenging their application for a Department of Environmental Protection Waterways Division Chapter 91 license. 

“This isn’t a fight you walk away from because this is where we live, where our children play, and where we already grapple with so many other environmental burdens that affect our health,” said Walkey. “If they can convince us that this substation is needed, which they have yet to do, they will still have to convince us that Massport, by far the largest single user of electricity in East Boston, is not the most appropriate and sensible location for it.”

The substation was approved to be sited at the City Yards back in 2017. 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *