April 12, 2021
The Biden administration has already made a big bet on offshore wind, elevating the technology among the suite of options that deserve strategic attention. This support recognizes its potential to lower greenhouse gas emissions, create good jobs, and drive investment in associated infrastructure, especially along the Eastern seaboard of the United States. Such a correction was long overdue: at year-end 2020, the United States accounted for just 0.1 percent of the world’s installed capacity for offshore wind (versus 17 percent for onshore wind). For years, projects had languished in a regulatory process that was too slow, leaving the United States far behind China and several European countries. This may finally be changing.
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SWANSEA The controversy over the former Brayton Point power station site hasn’t been confined to Somerset.
Letters sent out this month on behalf of the town of Swansea to Attorney General Maura Healey and the AG’s environmental protection division allege that noise and dust from ongoing demolition at the site have created a “public nuisance.”
One of the letters was penned by board of selectmen chair Christopher Carreiro and the other by town counsel Anthony Savastano.
Both letters identify the Gardner’s Neck Road, southern section of town as being most directly affected by the dust and noise pollution coming from what is now known as Brayton Point Commerce Center.
SOMERSET There’s no love lost between the owners of the former Brayton Point Power Station and residents living in the nearby neighborhood.
“They’re a nightmare of a company,” Kathy Souza said, referring to Commercial Development Company Inc., also known as CDC.
The St. Louis-based CDC bought the 306-acre industrial site in December 2018 for just under $9 million, a year after all production ended at the former coal-burning titan.
The CDC company has said its priority has been to broker a contract with an offshore wind energy company to build a combined storage, maintenance and manufacturing site for wind turbine components.
SOMERSET The Missouri redevelopment company that bought the former Brayton Point power station in December 2018 has had big plans since it paid nearly $9 million for the vacant 306-acre site.
But more than two years later, what once had been the largest coal-fired power plant in New England and the single largest generator of tax revenue to the town hasn’t come close to realizing its full potential.
Steven Collins, executive vice president of redevelopment for Brayton Point LLC, an affiliate of St. Louis-based Commercial Development Company Inc., says the goal from day one has been to utilize some portion of 140 acres of useable real estate as an offshore wind manufacturing, staging and maintenance facility.