Dispatches from the Front: May 13th, 2022

Reports from Three Theaters of Operations: Nuclear Dumping/Holtec, Horse Track/Casino, and Sand Mining.

[Readers, I believe I have sprained my hand in a mountain biking mishap (all else is well). In the meantime, I have been remiss as I am participating pretty actively of late in the activities I am covering. So to tide you over here is a short but hopefully extensive and comprehensible report of recent developments.]

Holtec/Nuclear Dumping

Rally and NRC Meeting in Plymouth  

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) met in Plymouth on the evening of Monday, May 9th, 2022, ostensibly in order to give the public input on a proposed rule change. Like most NRC meetings, this regulatory process was, as Attorney James Lampert, a longtime Pilgrim watchdog put it, “fictitious” – nevertheless, it was important to show up and make our points known.

The NRC meeting began at 6 p.m. Immediately prior to that, Save Our Bay, a grassroots coalition of local citizens, fishermen, environmentalists, and numerous other groups opposed to the proposed dumping of a million gallons of irradiated wastewater by Holtec, the owner of Pilgrim Nuclear Station, rallied outside the 1620 Hotel in Plymouth.

The Rally, which was organized primarily by Henrietta Cosentino of the Plymouth Area League of Women Voters and Plymouth charterboat Captain Paul Quintal, featured a wide array of speakers, from seasoned activists to politicians, college students to grandparents.

Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz (D-Boston), gave a very fine speech, extolling her commitment to seeing that not one drop of irradiated water is dumped in Cape Cod Bay.

Charlie Bletzer, Plymouth Selectman and candidate for reelection, also made a speech opposing the dumping. Former Plymouth Selectman John Mahoney, who is also running for one of the two open seats on the Select Board, was set to address the rally but found himself stuck in traffic on Rt. 3 South.

The NRC meeting itself was characterized by what Ms. Cosentino called bureaucratic “gobbledygook,” a retreat behind jargon to defend the indefensible.

In fact, the NRC itself admitted that the rule change, which would give the public even less say, was primarily proposed to help save the nuclear industry money (the citation was provided by the Lamperts in their written testimony).

Kristine Danielson, whom I was delighted to recognize from my State and Local Government Class at Quincy College from a few years ago, talked powerfully during the public comment period about the effect of toxic contamination in Woburn (made famous in the book and film “A Civil Action”) on her own family, and her concerns as a current Plymouth resident over Holtec’s proposed radioactive dumping.

For all that, the meeting ended inconclusively. The NRC is widely considered to be among the most “captured” of federal regulatory bodies, and that was certainly evident on Monday evening.

The Trial That Wasn’t: The Case Of Diane Turco 

Harwich activist, longtime Pilgrim Nuclear gadfly, and friend of the Plymouth County Observer Diane Turco was set to go on trial starting Monday, May 9th, for trespassing charges relating to an interview she gave in late 2018 late NPR regarding security issues at Pilgrim.

            After three-and-a-half years, the Plymouth District Court dismissed the charges, because Entergy – the owner of the plant at the time – as well as the police officers involved continuously failed to show up, including failing to respond to subpoenas. 

             If you or I were to fail to answer a subpoena, of course, we would be held in contempt of court, and very probably be in the Plymouth County House of Corrections.

             Ms. Turco put together numerous witnesses from all over the country and the world, from Dr. Helen Caldicott to James and Mary Lampert of Duxbury.

            The failure of Entergy and the police to show up for charges they themselves bought says a great deal about the state of public opinion in our region.

Casino/Horse Track

Boston South Real Estate Group, the cutout company founded within the year by the O’Connell family of Quincy developers, after the failure of their Notos subsidiary to sell a remarkably similar proposal for a race track/casino in Wareham (they lost at Wareham Town Meeting by 85 to 15%), held a public meeting to discuss their proposal to destroy our ancient commons for the further enrichment of the O’Connell family.

            The Meeting, held at Memorial Hall in Plymouth on the evening of Wednesday, May 11th, did not go well for the O’Connells/Boston South Real Estate Group.

            Speakers and the audience, aside from a handful of reactionaries, eccentrics, and friends and family of the developers, were overwhelmingly opposed. I would estimate the margin to be near 70% opposed, 30% in favor. My understanding is the proportion among Plymouth Town Meeting Members is  even higher in terms of opposition.

My own speech, excoriating the risible and spurious arguments for this terrible idea, was interrupted by a woefully under-prepared woman who appeared to be related to the developers –- she and a younger woman who looked like a close relative of hers, both similarly attired in conspicuously rich finery, left in a party with the developers, the latter arm-in-arm with O’Connell heir Will O’Connell, who attempted to sell his particular brand of nonsense.

Of course, the woman may have been angry that I had, at the beginning of my speech, cross examined Mr. O’Connell, the third generation development heir and I believe seriously embarrassed him, by forcing him to admit that his uncles were the ones who founded Granite Links in Quincy, which he, in the manner of so many rich kids before him, has been left to run and attempt to take credit for.

      Another example, of course, of being born on Third Base and believing you hit a Triple.

      I participatedinparliamentary debate in college, so finishing my speech in the face of the developer’s plants was not a problem.

    She did try to make a speech of her own afterwards, but was unprepared, incoherent, and frankly embarrassed herself, her friends, and their avaricious cause.

    It probably wasn’t the debut that the O’Connells and their local comprador,* former Plymouth Planning Board member Loring Tripp III, had hoped for.

    In fact, the Kentucky horse racing and gambling executive the O’Connells brought in, Vince Gabbert, was greeted with derision, and his glaring contempt for democracy — Mr. Gabbert made clear he would respect neither the vote of the Town of Plymouth on the non-binding ballot question on May 21st, nor any letter of rejection from the Select Board of Plymouth — was evident. Indeed, he was very open about it.

    Because Gabbert, the O’Connells, Mr. Tripp, et al., seem to believe we are a corporate oligarchy in this country, ruled by them and their wealthy friends.

    But we remain democracies in the several Towns of this Commonwealth, despite all their efforts, and I am very hopeful the People of Plymouth will do as the People of Wareham did, and overwhelmingly reject the bottomless greed of these developers at the ballot box.

    The Plymouth Town Elections are on Saturday, May 21st.

*comprador = a word from Portuguese India, signifying a member of the “native” population who rose to prominence by serving powerful outside economic forces, typically helping them to extract value from the local economy.

Sand Mining

Attorney Meg Sheehan continues to expose illegal sand-mining in the region, including one I hadn’t been aware of until a few weeks ago, on Collins Road in the Industrial Park in Plymouth.

This seems to be yet another property in which Plymouth Building Inspector Nick Mayo is unwilling to do his job or listen to the elected officials who are supposed to be his bosses, and to be in charge in a democracy.

Meanwhile, on the afternoon of May 4th, activists, including your intrepid reporter, protested the quite frankly laughable decision by some kind of corporate Board of Directors organization to award Makepeace, the barons of illegal sand mining in Southeastern Massachusetts, a corporate responsibility award in the Seaport District in Boston.

Activists from Native organizations, Save the Pine Barrens, the peace movement, the Green Party, and everyday citizens decried the absurd and greenwashed award.

I may have sprained my hand, so am going to call it a day for right now.