Greenpeace

Guest Blog: Sandra Winter is a local activist involved with HealthLink and Greenpeace working to shut down the coal plant in Salem Habor.

My first memory of coal was the noise it made coming down the metal shoot from the coal truck.  That tumbling, rumbling sound was coal filling up the bin in our basement.  That sound meant that our house would be warm.  My next memory is of looking at the many thin black tattoo lines on my grandfather’s work-worn, gentle hands. The lines were caused by the coal dust that got into the cuts and scrapes that came from mining coal in Canada.

Now I have new thoughts about coal and they are not comforting at all.  These new thoughts have been created in large part from living in the oppressive shadow of the smokestacks of the Salem Power Station.  Forty-five years ago, when I moved to Marblehead, Massachusetts, the sight of the four looming towers and the endlessly flashing lights on them unnerved me. I have watched the huge plumes of smoke coming from those stacks:  sometimes pale grey, sometimes ominous black and always streaming in the direction of the prevailing wind.  

Over fifteen years ago a woman here in Marblehead died of breast cancer.  She was the quintessential health advocate: healthy food, exercise every day, positive attitude - and still she died.  A group of her friends started to look at the various factors here in our town that might have contributed to her death.  They formed committees to look at soil, water and chemicals. In the end; they focused on the Salem Power Plant and HealthLink (www.HealthLink.org) was born.  Since that time, HealthLink has actively engaged in gathering data that supports the connections between the products and by-products of coal combustion and various health problems such as asthma, cancer, and respiratory diseases.  Over the years the evidence has been mounting that the coal plant is a contributing factor in the illnesses experienced by the residents of Salem and Marblehead and, to some extent, in the neighboring communities since they often fall under the cloud of the plumes.

The plant is 61 years old and has been out of compliance with pollution standards for years.   During this time there have been many demonstrations calling for closing the plant.  And there have been lawsuits; currently the Conservation Law Foundation has a suit against the current owner, Dominion Energy of Virginia, for opacity violations under the Clean Air Act (www.clf.org)

This issue has become much more personal for me in the twelve years since the birth of my first grandchild.  Now there are seven, ranging from ten months to twelve years old and, as their grandmother, I have concerns for their health.  Four of them live directly in line with the coal plant and are subjected daily to the soot.  The other three live downstream but can be affected depending on the wind.

When Greenpeace began its Coal Free Future Tour. (http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/en/news-and-blogs/news/Coal-free-tour/) I was ready to work with them on this issue.  When the Arctic Sunrise came to Boston Harbor two weeks ago, I took my oldest grandchild to see it and take the tour.  His comment to the Greenpeace staff was:  “If we are the generation to be most affected by this, we should have a voice.” He is right. The legacy of environmental disasters that we are leaving to these new generations fills me with such sadness I joined other community members outside the State House on February 18 to ask Governor Patrick to use his bully pulpit to call for closing the plant by 2012. (http://www.wickedlocal.com/salem/news/x345548074/Anti-plant-anti-coal-campaign-rolls-into-town#axzz1EzAgKebw)  Greenpeace and HealthLink have committed to holding another State House rally (next one is at noon on March 4th) and not to go away until we get Governor Patrick to provide the strong leadership we need to close the plant as soon as possible . (http://members.greenpeace.org/event/view/4041/).  It is unconscionable to wait a single minute longer when the health, safety and well being of North Shore residents is being compromised.

My generation - born with the comforting sound of coal tumbling into our bins – and my children’s generation, have fallen asleep at the switch.  We are culpable for not paying attention, for not seeking out the information about what was happening to our planet, for getting so comfortable and complacent that we stopped questioning how our lifestyles were affecting our environment.  My grandson and I are working together. It is the least that I can do for him and all children, for I am grandmother to all of them, not just a few..

Sandra Winter
Marblehead, MA