Newton-Wellesley Hospital has plans for a new cogeneration power plant in our community that will will result in more gas leaks, smoke stacks putting out more dangerous particulate matter, and throwing any chance of greenhouse gas reduction commitments to the curb. However, there is still an opportunity to raise questions and concerns about how it will affect our lives—especially our health and our property values. 
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The planned power plant is alarming because:

• The two natural gas-powered turbines will emit 25% more particulate matter than all of Newton-Wellesley Hospital currently emits. Particulate pollution has been linked to a host of health problems like cancer and cardiovascular disease, and increased hospital emergency room visits and premature deaths. Even when particulate pollution is well below EPA limits, new research shows that it shortens people’s lifespans and causes kidney disease, hypertension, and dementia.
  
  
• The power plant will also emit >250% more oxides of nitrogen (NOx) than current levels—a higher average amount than Massachusetts once allowed for old coal-fired power plants, and one that increases the chances of hazardous ground-level ozone that could be the equivalent of smoking a pack a day of cigarettes.
  
  
• No community impact study has been done on the air or noise pollution these plants would emit in our own neighborhood. In a recent Waban Area Council meeting on December 12, 2019, Newton-Wellesley Hospital representatives acknowledged this.
  
  
• Within two miles of Newton-Wellesley Hospital—not a long distance for pollution to travel—are eight elementary schools (Angier, Zervas, Burr, Williams, Peirce, Schofield, Fiske & St. Bernard Elementary School), many preschools and countless homes with young families. “Children face special risks from air pollution because their lungs are growing and because they are so active and breathe in a great deal of air,” according to the American Lung Association, which also notes that air pollution can have negative effects to a baby even in the womb. Children are at a higher risk of developing asthma and respiratory infections, among other illnesses.
  
  
• In a Waban Area Council meeting on December 12, 2019, Newton-Wellesley Hospital representatives acknowledged that, with their new power plants, emissions would increase.
  
  

There is still time for the hospital to modify its plans to a lower-polluting alternative. Other Partners facilities have installed much cleaner power plants that would still allow Newton-Wellesley Hospital to meet their safety and reliability needs.  

WHAT CAN YOU DO? 

• Write to Newton Mayor Ruthanne Fuller (rfuller@newtonma.gov) to express your concern about Newton-Wellesley’s plans and stop the permitting process until we have more data and information about how these power plants will impact our community. We also recommend CCing the Newton City Councilors (citycouncil@newtonma.gov).
  
  
• Share your concerns with your friends and neighbors, with your school’s PTO, and on social media to raise awareness about the hospital’s plans. 
  
  
• Join a community task force who's goal is to efficiently and effectively gather/share information, strategize, and ultimately produce the results the community wants with respect to the power plant in our residential neighborhood.  A meeting is set for Tuesday, February 18th, at 8 pm.  Email info@sustainablewellesley.com for location details.  

The goal is to get them to immediately pause the plans from proceeding so that the community may have appropriate input. Their actions affect our community. They provide a valuable service to the community, but we would ask them to consider us and our health before moving forward.

Weekly climate vigils will be held every Friday from 3-4pm on the grounds of Wellesley Town Hall (525 Washington St., Wellesley). Join the movement and hold a sign to help raise awareness of the Climate Emergency.

Folks will be standing quietly (with thermoses of something hot!) every Friday for the foreseeable future. The model is Greta Thunberg and her organization FridaysForFuture www.FridaysForFuture.org . Hundreds of similar actions are being taken in towns across the USA and around the globe, many on a weekly basis.

Bring friends, family and neighbors. Feel free to bring a sign. For ideas, Google climate protests signs, you'll get hundreds of clever ideas.

Last month, Wellesley's Natural Resources Commission made a declaration of a Climate Emergency. This declaration affirms that the climate crisis is an environmental emergency. The Natural Resources Commission commits to educating the public and Town Government about the environmental impacts of climate change, to include the climate emergency as an agenda item at every Commission meeting, and to explicitly consider the climate emergency in all its decision making.

To read the Declaration In full, click here.

Dr. Regina LaRocque's presentation on the health benefits of electrification this week at the Rotary Club event had everyone ready to take action. She offered clear facts on how moving toward electricity, vs. natural gas, in our homes/lives will result in significant health benefits for citizens of Massachusetts.

Wellesley residents and businesses are invited to learn what they can actually do at Electrify Wayland's event on March 4th, from 7:00 to 9:00 pm in the Large Hearing Room, Wayland Town Building in Wayland or on February 29th, from 1-3pm, at the Harvey Wheeler Community Center in West Concord.

Electrifying your home’s heating system with a heat pump is one of the most effective ways to reduce your overall carbon footprint and make your home more comfortable.  Homeowners who want to learn why heat pumps are climate friendly, who don’t have air conditioning, or who have an aging heating system (more than 15 years old) and want to know about replacement options should attend this event.

You will learn about suitable options for your home by talking with installers, neighbors who have installed systems, and HeatSmart volunteers. You will also learn about available financial incentives for cold-climate air-source heat pumps, geothermal systems and heat pump water heaters.

If you haven't already, feel free to let the organizers know about your interest in heat pumps to help inform our future work — please take this very quick 5 question survey . 

Do Wellesley’s candidates for Town offices share your values?

Find out at an afternoon with the candidates.

Join us on March 8th from 4:30-6:00pm at the Village Church to hear from, and meet the candidates.

This is just ahead of the March 17th date when Wellesley heads to the polls to elect candidates to variety of important Town Board positions.

Be there. Listen, ask questions. 
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Zero Waste Wellesley Challenge Item of the Month for February is black plastic containers.

Black plastic is not recyclable according to our RDF and thus goes directly into waste and landfills. There is no aftermarket to sell it.

Please stop and think when you order take-out or get a to-go leftover container from your favorite restaurant.

ASK if they use black plastic and REFUSE it and ASK for a recyclable alternative. 

Give input on Complete Streets at a public hearing on Wednesday, February 5 at 7:30 p.m. in the Kingsbury Room at the Wellesley Police Department. 

Complete Streets is a grant program from the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (Mass DOT) that helps communities provide safety and accessibility for all methods of travel - walking, biking, transit and driving - for people of all ages and abilities.  Money from the program is used for technical assistance and construction funding for improvement projects
Wellesley recently received a Complete Streets grant of $35,000 and is developing a prioritization plan or "wish list" of improvement projects to consider.

Residents are encouraged to attend the hearing and share their ideas on projects, areas of town (schools, bike lanes, trails, etc.) and user groups (children, senior citizens, citizens with disabilities, etc.) that should receive priority. 

Ideas may also be shared using the interactive map on Wellesley’s Complete Streets portal. This portal, open since November 2019, will close on Friday, February 7. 

There is no limit to the number of comments that may be submitted. 

Prior the Complete Streets public hearing, the Traffic Committee will host a presentation and discussion at 6 p.m. on the updated redesign of the Great Plain Rotary at the intersection of Great Plain Avenue, Wellesley Avenue and Seaver Street.  Learn more about the proposed improvements to pedestrian safety, sidewalks and overall intersection safety and ask questions. 

During this year’s Annual Town Meeting, Wellesley’s town meeting members will vote on a citizens’ petition to prohibit the sale of fur. This citizens’ petition is being proposed on the heels of the statewide California fur ban, recently signed into law, and simultaneous to other state and local initiatives to ban fur sales in Connecticut, Hawaii, New York City, Minneapolis, Portland (OR), and Toronto. The primary motivation for these bans stems from the rampant animal cruelty in the industry, which results in over 100,000,000 animals being killed every year for their fur by anal electrocution, clubbing, gassing, or poison. 85-95% of these animals are raised in cramped, filthy cages on fur farms, unable to ever participate in behaviors natural to their species, and where the skinning of animals while incapacitated but still alive has been regularly documented.[1]
 
Often left out of discussions of the fur industry, however, is the significant detrimental impact it has on the environment. While the fur industry regularly markets itself as sustainable and eco-friendly, EU regulatory agencies have deemed these claims as false and misleading advertising. A recent study by the independent consulting group on environmental sustainability, CE Delft, shows why. It found that fur is the worst offending textile, natural or synthetic, in 17 of 18 environmental categories including climate change, ozone depletion, and toxicity (only cotton scored worse in the category of water depletion), ranging from 2 to 28 times the environmental impact of other textiles.[2] 
 
For example, the climate change impact of mink fur is 5 times higher than the second worst offending textile, wool (sheep being high methane producers requiring lots of land and feed). Put differently, producing 1 kg of mink fur requires 11.4 minks and 563 kg of feed comprised of mostly chicken and fish.  This highly inefficient process taxes land and water resources, and produces significant waste runoff that is consistently reported to pollute local water supplies. And for what?  Is a decorative pompom on a winter hat or trim around a hood worth the toll this industry takes on animals and the environment alike?
 
While fur farming has been banned in nearly all countries in the EU, 80% of the fur purchased in the United States comes from China, where there is no regulatory oversight of either animal cruelty or environmental harm caused by fur farms.[3]

For more information on Fur-Free Wellesley, including the complete bylaw, please visit this website or Facebook page, or contact the organizer, Liza Oliver at liza.oliver@wellesley.edu.

[1] https://www.hsi.org/news-media/fur-trade/

[2] https://www.cedelft.eu/publicatie/the_environmental_impact_of_mink_fur_production/1131

[3] https://www.furfreealliance.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Graphic-map_fur-farming-legislation-5-1024x766.jpg