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Michaelann Land
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Michaelann Land is the political and personal blog of a longtime community activist in Springfield Massachusetts. It tracks homelessness, poverty and environmental news in Western Mass and elsewhere, with random bursts of poetry and humor.
Recent Posts Tagged With 'biomass'
Cleaner air will save $50 billion in health care costs!
There's always lot of penny wise, pound foolish thinking in government. A local example: Springfield City Council approved a construction and demolition-burning biomass plant because of the 60 jobs and unknown amount of new tax revenue. ...
WMA Biomass opponents challenge study\'s impartiality
Last Friday, Springfield area residents got some good news. According to a press release from the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, Secretary Bowles announced that he has directed MassDEP to suspend review of permit ...
"Biomass" incinerators: where we stand right now in Springfield and Western Mass
I've been flat out the last three weeks organizing against the proposed "biomass" incinerator being planned for Springfield by Palmer Renewable Energy with not even any time to blog. Fortunately, other bloggers have stepped up and covered rece...
Seven reasons to oppose a toxic incinerator in Springfield.
Palmer Renewable Energy’s proposal to build an electricity-generating biomass plant in Springfield, Massachusetts is moving very quickly, now—the developers need two more permits and then they get the green light. I myself refuse to call PREâ€...
Greenfield residents sold down the river-- or should I say sewage line?
"If you wouldn't want to drink it, why would you want to breathe it?" That very reasonable question by a Greenfield resident to the Greenfield Appointment and Ordinance Committee at a public hearing last Monday summed up the concerns of the 100...
Anti-biomass work has taken over my life
I was looking at the stats for how many posts I've written recently and it's not what I would like. Seems like I'm spending so much of my time recently talking on the phone, at meetings and writing/answering emails about biomass that by the evening,...
Mystery tire tracks, bureaucracy, pizza and outreach
I spent almost all of today on the telephone, but tonight I got to hang out with flesh and blood people and talk about community outreach.The City of Springfield's 311 Call Center has been promoted as a helpmeet to the city's residents, but I have no...
Springfield biomass plant opponents have a website
People who want more information on the proposed Palmer Renewable Energy (PRE) biomass plant now have a resource: Say No to Springfield Construction and Demolition Debris Incineration. Blogging I can do, but website creation is beyond me, so thanks ...
Burning more wood is for cavemen
Here's a letter about biomass from Chris Matera, Forest Watch, which was published in The Brattleboro Reformer.The glowing and superficial review of burning forests for energy (a.k.a., biomass energy) in the July 29 editorial by the Reformer and its ...
Stop Biomass petitions ready to go!
One thing I've learned about winning a campaign is that usually, there is no single strategy for winning; multiple strategies are needed.My city, Springfield, Massachusetts, is being threatened with a reduction in air quality by the proposed construc...
Home again and busy like crazy
Some people like fun and adventure on their vacation. I prefer going to a place I love, where within a day I feel like I've been there forever. Thus for twenty years I camped with my kids at Nickerson State Park in Brewster, and for the last ten ye...
Living to organize, organizing to live
I've said this blog is not my journal yet the last two days-- last two weeks, really-- have been a more challenging blend of the personal and the political than I usually have to balance, and I'm going to write about some of that here. Maybe I would...
Springfield Anti-Biomass Meeting June 22
Massachusetts banned new incinerators 19 years ago, with very good reason, but is now not only promoting biomass incinerators, but apparently is even willing to reconsider incinerators themselves. See this Boston Globe article from May, 2009.Massach...
Greenfield biomass hearing gets wild
Well, Springfield, we've got to catch up. Greenfield has some passionate environmentalists, but last night when the Greenfield Zoning Board didn't even want to hear from a resident who lives right across the street from the proposed plant, and has ...
Suspicious of good news - will forests get a reprieve?
I spent a fair amount of yesterday morning on the phone, calling different public officials about the proposed biomass plant for Springfield, and none of them mentioned-- in fact, I doubt they knew-- that the state Department of Energy Resources plan...
Huh?
Regarding Palmer Paving's proposed biomass plant.....just found out that the DEP issues a draft permit FIRST and THEN has an Air Quality hearing...still trying to find out the date of that hearing. The fellow I did speak to, expressing concern about...
Many good reasons to oppose biomass proposal for Springfield
On Tuesday, June 16, I and my sister Liz, Arise's Economic Justice organizer, went to a public forum by the Springfield Area Sustainable Energy Association (SASEA) on the problems with a biomass plant proposed for Springfield by Palmer Paving. Only ...
