Letters

A jolly good biomass mess

Letters to the Boston editors, September 23, 2011

By BOSTON PHOENIX LETTERS | September 21, 2011

JOLLY GOOD

Sweet summer treat, that Britpop feature ("The 100 Greatest Britpop Anthems of the '90s," August 19). There I was about to whine about the exclusion of dear Morrissey, when I get slapped with a side-story explanation that shuts me right up. Big snaps to Michael Marotta and friends — especially the wise Carl Lavin and Ken Powers — who compiled a pretty excellent list. Nice one, mates.

EMILY J. HARDMAN
BROOKLINE

BIOMASS MESS

Regarding your recent feature, "Deval's Green Blues" (Talking Politics, September 2), we all want to watch the biomass situation with great interest, because this is where we get to find out who Deval Patrick really works for: the many or the few. Ken Burns says national parks are "our best idea." Biomass incinerators are the exact opposite, and are our worst idea. They damage the climate, ravage our forests and wildlife, dry up our rivers, pollute our air, and increase morbidity and mortality (as stated by the Massachusetts Medical Society). Each constitutes an act of environmental injustice by invariably being sited in poor communities, and rip off each and every one of us because they are only financially viable with massive infusions of cash. The science is now clear, and we citizens have been fighting for a sane approach — i.e., don't make us subsidize these ridiculous incinerators — for more than five years. The science is resoundingly on our side.

This is corporate pork on steroids, for energy we don't even need. Think of the good that could be done with this money! If the governor caves to these developers, it will be an outrageous betrayal. It will be small comfort that at least we will know with certainty who he works for. After so much extensive debate, the science is settled and he knows what is right. Now he needs to do what is right.

ELLEN MOYER
MONTGOMERY

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