[Solidarity] No Eastie Substation Picnic
Join us in the Condor Street Urban Wild in East Boston for another peaceful and colorful rally protesting the construction of the Eastie substation. Despite promises to review the legal requirements, the Healey administration has not acted. We continue our #NoEastieSubstation campaign and are calling on Governor Healey and first-in-the-nation Climate Chief Hoffer to intervene on the local community's behalf. This time we are going to picnic in the Urban Wild to enact the communities' vision for the site. Bring your picnic blanket and basket. There will be snacks, lawn games and music.
Our Demands
- We demand that the substation project be moved to Massport. They are the largest single user of electricity in East Boston.
- Explore options for community control of energy infrastructure in East Boston to address systemic inequalities and promote environmental justice.
- Ensure a conservative design of the facility for realistic climate crisis scenarios and compensate the community commensurate with the waterfront and public use that they have lost.
Some Background:
A substation is a piece of infrastructure that allows high voltage electricity to be dropped to a lower distribution level voltage that can be used in households. The proposed site is poorly chosen: Close to Chelsea creek, in a densely populated community, adjacent to a playground & soccer field and only a few hundred feet from a large storage area for Massport’s jet fuel. Due to the location being a climate-induced flood zone, community members are concerned about the possibility of an explosive accident.
Nearly 84 percent of Boston voters cast their ballots in opposition to an electric substation that Eversource plans to build along the Chelsea Creek in the Eagle Hill neighborhood of East Boston. Unfortunately this ballot question is non-binding. Shortly afterward Eversource has filed a special request that supersedes 14 local and state environmental review processes with the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs. That certificate was granted in November 2022 so that Eversource could start construction of the East Boston substation on January 10 , 2023.
Protests have intensified since the beginning of the construction. Here some examples of coverage:
For more background information see https://xrboston.org/substation/.
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