EVT EVE ER T Vol. 34, No.7 -FREET www.advocatenews.net Your Local News & Sports Online! Scan & Subscribe! ADDOCCO TEAT Free Every Friday 617-387-2200 Friday, February 14, 2025 Proposed lithium battery storage project concerns City Council members By Neil Zolot T he City Council and Fire Chief Joseph Hickey expressed concern over the siting of a lithium battery storage facility in the commercial/industrial area off Revere Beach Parkway and Lower Broadway, especially in case of a fi re. “We have comments with extinguishing issues,” Hickey said at the Council meeting Monday, February 10. “We’re told if there’s a fi re of this type, you have to let it burn out. That’s hard to take as a firefighter when you have a population to protect. Any fi re presents an environmental hazard and I’m sure they’re installing safeguards, but we have to look at it as if there’s a worst-case scenario” – they being developer Jupiter Power. “I don’t know the exposure to the community,” Ward 1 Councillor Wayne Matewsky confessed. “We’ve been exWayne Matewsky Ward 1 Councillor posed to many hazards over the years. The only good thing I can see in this is that it’ll be union built, but it will produce only a handful of longterm jobs.” The site is located in his Ward and would be in one of three areas: the Docklands Innovation District, the Lower Broadway Economic Development District on Lower Broadway or the Commercial Triangle Economic Development District. He brought up the matter after reading a recent opinion piece in the Boston Herald by environmental activist Laurie Belsito, Policy Director of the Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance. In it she criticizes Governor Healey’s administration for approving permitting of the project, and points out the dangers from a possible fi re at the facility to Everett. She calls such a fi re a toxic inferno that can’t be put out with water that might burn for many hours at very high degrees. She also writes that the facility would contain 700 megawatts of power in an area surrounded by a city. It would be one of the largest in the country, but most are placed in more remote areas. “This is very large,” Hickey confi rmed. The area could contain residential properties and is very close to others like developments on Second Street and neighborhoods across Revere Beach Parkway. “You can’t put something this size in an urban area,” Councillor-at-Large Stephanie Smith feels. “Everett is always a dumping ground for the state. If something were to happen, think about it.” Councillor-At-Large John Hanlon asked, somewhat rhetorically, about how Everett would be evacuated, where people would go, how long people would have to stay away and what long-term effects might be. He likened the issue to plans from the 1950s made in case of a nuclear attack. Hickey is reluctant to specify a danger zone. “It would depend on the size and scope of an incident,” he said. “We have monitoring equipment but that doesn’t help us.” Last fall, the Council approved a request for work to connect the facility to the City’s electrical system and a change in zoning to allow development, but “not specifi cally for this proposal,” City Clerk Sergio Cornelio told the members when asked to research the matter during the meeting. There was also an open house on the project at the Connolly Center last summer, but permitting is done at the state level. “The state drives the train,” Mayor DeMaria’s Chief of Staff , Erin Deveney, said when called to testify at the meeting. “State regulations don’t allow for suffi cient community input. The state has the ability to burden local communities if it feels it is a benefi t to the state, and the city doesn’t have any ability to prevent a proponent from bringing in this type of project.” “If we said no, the state could have shoved this down our throats regardless,” Smith said PROJECT | SEE PAGE 9 Lady Tide Basketball Roll Past Revere F. J. LaRovere Insurance Agency, Inc. 492 Broadway Everett, MA 02149 617-387-9700 phone 617-387-9702 fax INSURANCE FOR AUTO, HOME, AND BUSINESS We offer very competitive rates, and by representing many different companies we can shop for the best price for our customers. Call us today! Open Monday – Friday 9am-5pm and Saturdays 9am-12pm Messinger Insurance Agency 475 Broadway Everett, MA 02149 617-387-2700 phone 617-387-7753 fax TIDE ATTACK: Everett’s senior co-captain Emilia Maria-Babcock drives the ball past a Revere defender during Tuesday night’s GBL action at the RHS Fieldhouse. The Lady Tide team won, 4842. See stories and photo highlights inside. (Advocate photo by Emily Harney)
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