Protesters sprawled out in front of gravestones on the Waters River Bridge in Danvers Tuesday to show what they say will be the fate of future generations if we keep depending on fossil fuels.
It was a demonstration to help save the climate, and more locally, to stop an oil and natural gas-powered “peaker” plant that is now under construction in Peabody.
“We’ve just had an incredibly hard summer with the drought, and if we think of the floods and fires that happen in other parts of the world, and now these severe hurricanes, we know it will only get worse,” said Brookline resident Suzette Abbott, who attended Tuesday’s rally with about two dozen other protestors.
“We can’t have anymore fossil fuels, only renewable energy,” Abbott said. “Otherwise, life will be untenable.”
The 55-megawatt plant would only run during peak times of energy use for at most 1,250 hours annually. Developers expect the $85 million project to be completed by summer 2023.
Proponents of the plant argue that its newer technology will make it more efficient and produce fewer emissions than older plants in the area, and that it would only be used for a fraction of the year.
Still, it’s time to draw the line somewhere, protesters said.
“Fossil fuel causes pollution and includes tiny particles called PM 2.5 that easily enter our lungs and blood. They make us sick and could kill us,” said Peabody resident Jerry Halberstadt, an environmental activist who spoke at the protest.
“If we’re to stop pollution, we must inform and empower everyone to identify pollution as a source of their pain,” he said.
Many of the cars passing by the protest Tuesday honked in support, including a large oil tanker.
With horns blaring in the background, protesters called on the state to conduct environmental impact and health assessment reports to project the plant’s possible footprint in the area, something that hasn’t been required to happen.
Breathe Clean North Shore co-founder Sudi Smoller told the crowd that these reports are more important than ever.
She cited a health report submitted to Peabody’s Board of Health earlier this month that found that neighborhoods near the plant already suffer from higher rates of health disparities compared to other parts of the state.
This included higher rates of cancer, chronic kidney disease, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and coronary heart disease among adults, and higher rates of emergency department visits for asthma among children under 14.
Eight environmental justice neighborhoods are also within the peaker plant’s buffer zone, according to the report. This means at least 40% of people who live there are people of color, or have a median household income of 65% or less than the state average.
“These neighborhoods have a cumulative history of pollution,” Smoller told the crowd. “That cumulative history must be considered as we move into the future.”
Pollution from the plant would also spill into Salem — an environmental justice community — and other neighboring municipalities, Salem City Councilor Jeff Cohen said.
“Why did they put this in where there are low-income people?” Cohen said at the protest. “We’ve got to fight against this. We don’t need to have a fossil fuel plant at all. “
Cohen said communities currently use peaker plants because there is too much stress on the power grid.
“If you have more renewable energy like wind and solar, that reduces the stress,” he said.
For two years, protesters’ calls for transparency and alternatives to the peaker plant have gone unanswered by energy and state officials, organizer Judith Black said.
“This is our line in the sand. Not ‘just one more fossil fuel plant’ — no,” Black said. “It’s got to stop somewhere, and we believe it should stop here.”
Contact Caroline Enos at CEnos@northofboston.com and follow her on Twitter @CarolineEnos.
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