Motions Filed To Intervene In Holtec DEP Appeal

PLYMOUTH – More than a dozen local groups and individuals have joined a motion to support the state's decision to block the former Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station from discharging treated wastewater into Cape Cod Bay.

The motion, which was filed Sept. 19 with Mass DEP’s Office of Appeals and Dispute Resolution, allows the motioners to take part in the appeal filed by Holtec, which owns the shuttered plant bordering the bay in Plymouth. Similar motions have also been filed with DEP to intervene in the appeal.

Among the 19 groups and individuals that signed onto the motion as “the APCC Group” include the Association to Preserve Cape Cod, the Cape and Islands Association of Realtors, the Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce, the Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen's Alliance, State Rep. Dylan Fernandes (D-Woods Hole), Barnstable County Commissioner Sheila Lyons and members of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe.

Fernandes joined APCC, members of the fishermen’s alliance and others in Plymouth Oct. 2 to announce the motion to intervene in Holtec’s appeal.

“Dumping radioactive wastewater into Cape Cod Bay is an unacceptable threat to our environment and local economy,” Fernandes said in a statement ahead of last week’s announcement. “Holtec cannot be allowed to dodge the costs of cleanup by running out the clock while their waste puts our community's economy at risk. ​​I’m proud to stand with APCC and our coalition to protect the Bay and the people of the South Shore and Cape.” 

The APCC motion to intervene is the latest step in what has been a lengthy back and forth between Holtec and local clean water advocates over the company’s plan to discharge more than a million gallons of treated nuclear waste from the former plant into the bay, which both Orleans and Brewster border. 

Holtec, which purchased the plant in 2019,  sought to modify its surface water discharge permit to allow for the discharge in April 2023. DEP denied the application in July, and Holtec filed its appeal in August.

In the Sept. 19 motion, the APCC Group says that Holtec’s plan constitutes a potential threat to the region’s environment and blue economy. In addition to water pollution, the proposed discharge could result in the “impairment of water resources and destruction of seashores, dunes, open spaces, or natural areas.” The motion further argues that impairments to the water could impact the safety and quality of local seafood, which would in turn affect local shellfish growers and commercial fishermen.

“With the assistance of the undersigned counsel, the APCC Group believes it can add meaningful value to this adjudicatory proceeding by helping to develop an appropriately robust and complete evidentiary record for consideration and decision,” the motion reads.

The group also says more environmentally appropriate options for disposing of the waste exist, but that Holtec is choosing to instead discharge into the bay.

“Holtec seeks MassDEP’s permission to take such extraordinary action not because it is Holtec’s only disposal option, and certainly not because it is the most appropriate environmental option, but simply because it is Holtec’s preferred alternative for purposes of furthering its own private business interests.”

Andrew Gottlieb, executive director for APCC, said last week that Holtec’s request to dump into the bay is in clear violation of the state’s Ocean Sanctuaries Act, which he said “prevents introduction of any new industrial wastewater discharge to the Cape Cod ocean sanctuary.”

“This is a black and white case,” he said.

But beyond the proposed dumping, opponents are also concerned with the impacts of waste evaporation. Gottlieb said that would come through Holtec’s plan to use underwater heating systems to help heat the plant’s core reaction building.

Diane Turco is director of Cape Downwinders, the nonprofit citizens group that has been actively fighting Holtec’s plan to discharge into the bay. The Downwinders are part of a separate motion to intervene in the Holtec appeal led by James Lampert of Duxbury.

Turco called the evaporation of waste both a public health and economic issue locally.

“That water is more dangerous via evaporation because there are more pathways it can be absorbed,” she said. “You could breathe it in…and it still gets to Cape Cod Bay.” Turco said the Downwinders are working with the Greater Boston Physicians for Social Responsibility, the Harvard School of Public Health and Ken Buessler, a scientist with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, to make the case for the dangers associated with wastewater evaporation.

Meanwhile, the DEP appeal is expected to be slow, with Gottlieb anticipating the process to take between 18 and 24 months. And should DEP’s decision be upheld, he said it’s expected that Holtec will prolong things further by appealing the denial in court. 

“This is all just a prelude to what we anticipate being a state and/or federal court battle,” he said.

Holtec spokesperson Patrick O’Brien on Monday said that Holtec strives to be an industry leader in “future nuclear deployment.” But he said the company’s goal of cleaning the Pilgrim property in eight years has been delayed by challenges to its plan to discharge into the bay, a practice he said was commonplace during the station’s 45 years of operations and has been subject to review by the state’s Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

 “We will continue to work through the appeal process, as allowed for in regulations, and look forward to a determination from our appeal that was filed,” he said in a statement. “Our goal is to provide facts over fear about the reality of safe, clean baseload power and help lead a clean energy future.”

But Gottlieb said he expects Holtec will use the time appealing the DEP decision to evaporate as much discharge as it can, thereby lowering its costs associated with otherwise releasing materials into the bay.

“I think they’ve made their peace with the fact that they’re just going to evaporate it all,” he said. “I expect them to drag this process out for as many years as they need to make it all go away.”

But Gottlieb and Turco both said opposition to Holtec’s plans won’t shrink in the face of a potentially lengthy appeal process. 

“The fight just goes on,” Gottlieb said.

Turco said she’s heartened by the number of motions that have been filed to take part in the DEP appeal, which she said also include those filed by the towns of Barnstable and Plymouth. She also noted the number of letters that DEP received in opposition to Holtec’s plans ahead of the agency’s July decision.

“They have total disregard for our communities, our environment and our economy,” she said of Holtec. “So we won’t stop fighting until they stop releasing garbage into our environment.”