Published in the November 29, 2017 edition
By MARK SARDELLA
WAKEFIELD — National Grid has agreed to provide the town with up to $20,000 to fund the services of an expert consultant of the town’s choosing to assist in evaluating the potential health and safety risks of National Grid’s proposed plan to run 3.5 miles of underground 345 KV electrical transmission line through Wakefield. Two residential abutters of the proposed route will also participate in selecting the consultant.
A subcommittee of the Board of Selectmen met last night at Town Hall to begin the process of finding and retaining such a consultant or firm. The three-member subcommittee consists of Ann Santos, Tony Longo and Ed Dombroski. Also in attendance were Town Administrator Stephen P. Maio and Public Works Director Richard Stinson.
The subcommittee was formed in the wake of a contentious three-hour public hearing on Nov. 13, when dozens of citizens expressed concerns over the possible health risks of radiation from electromagnetic fields (EMF). Others claimed to have little or no advance notice of the project.
It was made clear by Santos at the outset of last night’s subcommittee meeting that it was not a public hearing, although several of the dozen or so residents in attendance were allowed to offer suggestions and input. The suggestion that two abutters should be involved in selecting a consultant came from Houston Street resident Cynthia Davis.
Santos stressed that the town still plans to hold at least one more public forum in January. In the meantime, she said that National Grid has announced that it will have its own event on Dec. 13 at the Wakefield Memorial High School cafeteria. That event will be more of an open house with various National Grid representatives at different stations to talk about and answer questions on aspects of the project, including engineering, science and construction. More details on that event will be forthcoming, Santos said.
Regarding National Grid’s willingness to fund a consultant for the town, the subcommittee distributed copies of a letter from National Grid to Board of Selectmen Chairman Paul DiNocco.
“We have never funded an EMF expert for a municipality or other party on any if our past electric projects,” the National Grid letter states. “Regardless, after listening to residents’ comments, we believe a qualified EMF expert will help allay the residents’ concerns around the health effects of EMF.”
The letter states that National Grid’s agreement to fund the consultant comes with a number of conditions, most of which relate to such a consultant’s background and qualifications. Subcommittee members agreed that they would want someone with the very background and qualifications outlined and therefore had no objection to the conditions.
Dombroski said that in addition to EMF, he would like to see a consultant review routing alternatives and other possible mitigation. The “preferred route” that National Grid has submitted to the state Energy Facilities Siting Board (EFSB) is the same one that town officials favored.
The proposed route of the project through Wakefield would come down Albion Street and Broadway, cross North Avenue and then follow the abandoned railroad bed for approximately one mile, running across Bennett Street, Richardson Street and Water Street. The line would then turn down Salem Street to Montrose Avenue and up the access road to the National Grid Substation. It is part of a joint proposal of National Grid and Eversource to run 8.5 miles of underground transmission cable from an Eversource substation in Woburn to the National Grid Substation off Montrose Avenue.
The companies have said, and regulators have agreed, that the line is necessary to assure energy reliability in the region going forward.
Notwithstanding their efforts to retain expert advice, members of the subcommittee did not express great confidence in the town’s ability to stop or influence the project at this stage.
“We may not be able to stop the project,” Santos said. “I don’t think we can.” At the hearing two weeks ago, National Grid officials said that the proposed project route was already being considered by the EFSB and they expected as decision in December.
Stinson explained that a number of years ago the federal and state government adopted policies that allow regulatory boards like the EFSB to authorize such projects even over local objections, because otherwise nothing could ever be built as no one wants it in their backyard.
Things got a bit tense between Santos and Dombroski when Dombroski brought up the fact that the town had agreed to the “preferred route” in March of 2015, even before the first public meeting was held in late April of that year. Santos felt that Dombroski was “throwing the previous Board (of Selectmen) under the bus.”
It was pointed out that proper procedure had been followed at the time, as the preferred route had to be selected before abutters could be identified and given notice of the project and hearings.
But Dombroski questioned why residents were not brought in sooner, during the discussions of the routing of the line. He said his main concern in bringing it up was to avoid making “the same process mistakes again.”
Dombroski also asked about reports that some 550 trees would be taken down as a result of the project. Stinson said that the number referred mainly to saplings and brush that have grown up between the tracks of the abandoned railroad bed, and not to trees of any significant size or value. He said those same trees would be taken down if a planned Rail-to-Trail bike/walking path along the same railroad bed is built by the town.
Santos also initially was not enthusiastic about having abutters participate in the selection of a consultant, citing negative experiences in the past. However, she ultimately agreed to having two abutters provide input. Longo also agreed.
The subcommittee asked any abutter interested in being one of those involved in selecting a consultant to email sdalton@wakefield.ma.us by noon on Friday.
Based on a question from Sean Margerison of Salem Street, Dombroski wondered if it would be possible to stay the EFSB’s scheduled Dec. 15 decision on the project route. Longo advocated trying to persuade National Grid to switch from Salem Street to the alternate New Salem Street route, which is largely industrial and has fewer homes.
Stinson was skeptical, saying that at this point the decision was “out of our hands.”
But Dombroski said that if the project was “fait accompli,” shifting the route would at least amount to some mitigation for residents, even if every other avenue of relief has been exhausted.
Maio said that he would talk to National Grid.
“I hate this,” Dombroski said. “I don’t want this transmission line coming through our town.”
One resident asked if it was possible to move the route further away from the Galvin Middle School. Stinson said that both the preferred and the alternate route go by the Galvin, and those are the only two routes that the EFSB can choose, other than starting the whole selection process over from scratch.
Santos assured residents that the consultant would look at the impact of the line on the Galvin as well as on residential homes along the route.
