MassDEP Issues Final Determination Denying Holtec's Application To Modify Its Permit
Discharge of Radioactive and Chemically Contaminated Wastewater Illegal Under Mass. Ocean Sanctuaries Act
(BOSTON) — The Mass. Dept. of Environmental Protection has issued a final determination denying Holtec’s application to modify its permit to allow the company to discharge its radioactively- and chemically-contaminated industrial wastewater into Cape Cod Bay. As in its tentative determination last July, MassDEP found that the proposed discharge violates the Massachusetts Ocean Sanctuaries Act (M.G.L. c. 132A Secs. 12A-16K and Sec. 18), which prohibits the discharge of industrial waste into protected ocean sanctuaries, including Duxbury, Kingston, Plymouth, and Cape Cod Bays.
(Pilgrim from Saquish Beach; credit — J. Benjamin Cronin)
This is a major victory — for our Towns, our Commonwealth, our oceans, and for the broad and diverse alliance that arose in their defense: the grassroots Save Our Bay coalition [full disclosure: I am a member], our elected officials from our Town, State, and Federal Governments, and above all, for our citizens across the region who have exercised their constitutional “right of enjoying and defending their lives and liberties … in fine, of seeking and obtaining their safety and happiness.” (Mass. Declaration of Rights, Art. I)
What this victory shows is democracy and the law working as they ought to. Holtec is certainly likely to appeal, and the situation bears close watching; but for now, this is very good news, and I want to both notify all you, and to express my sincere and profound gratitude for your attention to, and support on, this issue. Democracy and the common law system are not without flaws, but as this matter demonstrates, they remain the most powerful, effective, and just means of “obtaining our safety and happiness.”
More details will be forthcoming as I work through the decision. In the meantime, the next Nuclear Decommissioning Citizens Advisory Panel meeting will be on July 22nd, 2024, at 6:30 p.m., at Plymouth Town Hall; it will be proceeded by a Save Our Bay rally in front of Town Hall at 5:30 p.m.
Thank you, Ben, for keeping us in the loop. It is certainly discouraging that rolled back EPA oversight has lately been a congressional success. Money truly is the root of most evils as I see it.
Good news, bad news. Thanks for letting us know the GREAT news that MA DEP has denied Holtec's plan for dumping radioactive and chemically contaminated wastewater into Cape Cod Bay. Of course, the bad news is that Holtec is force evaporating this same water through their vents, unmonitored, and raining down on people, their property and the Bay. Use an umbrella.