CPV defends plant proposal at public forum

Hundreds of residents crowded the high school auditorium Tuesday night, and many of them told officials they want no part of a power plant planned for Industrial Road.

A standing-room crowd listened to Competitive Power Ventures’ pitch for a plant that would generate about 500 megawatts primarily using natural gas, with ultra-low-sulfur oil as a backup.

Outside the meeting, residents signed petitions and carried placards that read ‘‘Stop the Power Plant,’’ and ‘‘Walpole is Not for Sale.’’

Representatives of Competitive Power Ventures tried to reassure the crowd the plant would not harm the town.

‘‘Someone on our team suggested I use the term, ‘not your grandfather’s power plant,’ ’’ said Dave Schotts, a Competitive Power air quality engineer. Schotts said he believes the phrase is ‘‘hokey,’’ but true.

Selectmen Chairman Al DeNapoli said Walpole was one of 34 communities CPV representatives looked into at the beginning of the year. He said Walpole in no way reached out to power plant representatives, but suggested it would have been irresponsible not to hear the company out. DeNapoli said he was neither for nor against the plant.

‘‘I cannot have an informed decision, because I have not heard all the facts yet,’’ he said.

Selectmen are meeting with Competitive Power to negotiate a Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILOT) agreement.

Fuel for the plant would be stored, according to the proposal, in two 950,000-gallon tanks and the facility would be air-cooled, a process meant to cut back on the need for town water.

Air quality was one of the primary concerns of residents and selectmen at the forum.

Schotts said that an Air Quality Impact Analysis would be done and emissions from the plant would be kept below significant impact level. He said CPV would have to get permits from the state Department of Environmental Protection and the federal Environmental Protection Agency.

Selectman Chris Timson said he is concerned about particulates and their effect on neighbors and especially asthmatics. He also questioned where emissions from the power plant would go on a hazy day.

Schotts contended that air quality would be acceptable under all weather conditions and for all residents. He added that stationary sources (like a power plant) contribute less than 1 percent of particulates to the atmosphere.

Water use was also a concern of residents. Competitive Power Development Director Orlando Martinez said that the plant would use an average of 125,000 gallons of water a day with a maximum consumption of 200,000 gallons.

Local engineer and Walpole resident Dan Merrikin said there would be enough water.

‘‘In the grand scheme of things it’s not as much as you might think,’’ Merrikin said, adding that Walpole as a town uses 2 million gallons of water a day.

Resident John Amara said he doesn’t see the logic in allowing the use of that much water while he is not allowed to water his lawn during summer water bans.

DeNapoli asked if standards would be changed depending on whether the plant was burning gas or oil.

‘‘No matter what the fuel type we’re using, we have to meet all of the air quality standards associated with that fuel,’’ Martinez said.

The state would not allow the proposed plant to operate for more than 30 days on oil, according to Martinez. He said he doesn’t expect to burn oil for even that amount of time.

Resident Mary Smith asked what would happen if emissions began to exceed significant impact level.

Schotts said the plant would have a limited amount of time, usually about an hour, to fix the problem before it would be shut down.

‘‘If there’s any question, we just shut down,’’ Plant Manager George Grunbeck said. ‘‘That’s always been the mantra.’’

CPV also explained how the town’s aquifer would be protected.

‘‘We are 100 percent confident that the storage plants are going to protect our aquifer, which, next to the plant itself, we believe is the most critical issue associated with this project,’’ Grunbeck said.

‘‘The Titanic wasn’t supposed to sink either,’’ said resident Susan Bannon.

Martinez presented maps showing the location of the proposed site on Industrial Road and the surrounding radius. They showed the nearest home to be a half mile away with Boyden Elementary School about three quarters of a mile from the plant.

‘‘It’s too close to our school,’’ said resident John Murtagh. He added that he didn’t want school children to be Competitive Power’s ‘‘guinea pigs.’’

Murtagh was concerned about childhood cancer, leukemia and lymphoma. He said plants should be relegated to the ‘‘boonies’’ like the Competitive Power-owned Millennium Plant in Charlton.