When everyone was ready to give up on fighting off Global Petroleum’s Ethanol train plan, State Sens. Anthony Petruccelli (D-Eastie) and Sen. Sal DiDomenico decided to get creative.
Joining a dedicated crowd of residents from Eastie, Chelsea, Revere and Everett, they did the unthinkable – they rewrote the licensing laws to block the Global proposal and then put up the fight of their lives.
This week, after two years of turmoil, that plan came to a screeching halt as Global informed state leaders and local advocates that it was abandoning its proposal to bring in approximately 180 million gallons per year of Ethanol to Revere via trains on the commuter rail.
Global officials confirmed the news late on Monday afternoon.
“I am confirming we will be withdrawing our application to the DEP for the permit,” Global attorney and spokesman Ed Faneuil told the newspaper. “By withdrawing the application [to the DEP] we are withdrawing the application to receive Ethanol by rail at the facility [in Revere]…We are thankful to the communities of the Commonwealth for their input during the permit process and the folks on the Hill for considering our application and the officials at the various state agencies for reviewing our permit. We want to look forward to serving the energy needs of the Commonwealth in an ongoing basis.”
Grass Roots Victory
The news is being hailed as one of the largest grass-roots victories in decades, and folks like Ed O’Hara in Revere, Roseann Bongiovanni in Chelsea, Gail Miller in East Boston and Boston Environmental Attorney Staci Rubin are at the nucleus of the victory.
“It’s not every day you get to take on a Fortune 500 company and win,” said Petruccelli. “This was a big ‘Wow.’
History of the Project
Petruccelli and DiDomenico said they were in the midst of celebrating a legislative win on the Ethanol issue Monday when Global representatives paid them a visit. Faneuil told the state senators in a face-to-face meeting that Global would withdraw their request for a Chapter 91 waterways license from the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), and thus abandon the plan to bring in Ethanol trains to Revere.
From there, the news spread like wildfire.
Bongiovanni said there is a press conference wrap-up scheduled for Wednesday at the Chelsea Commuter Rail stop, where Ethanol trains would have rolled through twice a week.
The two-year saga began in April 2011 at a heated Revere Conservation Commission meeting where Bongiovanni, the Chelsea Collaborative and members of the Friends of Belle Isle Marsh expressed major concerns. At that time, Global indicated they were interested in bringing two, 60-car trains into the terminal per week – which would result in 180 million gallons of Ethanol per year. Global’s plan was to bring it at night over the commuter rail lines from the Devens Intermodal.
Not long after that, the Revere City Council held an informational meeting in which Revere resident Guida Rita Falzerone – who is also involved with the Chelsea Collaborative – spent about an hour alerting councillors and the public to the possible threat.
That’s when O’Hara got involved, noting the “done deal” statement.
For nearly two years, Global was silent on the issue while advocates, officials and lawmakers wrote letters, held meetings and even conducted a controversial six-month state Department of Transportation study on the transport of Ethanol by rail.
A Legislative Breakthrough
The breakthrough for the community in the fight came just after Memorial Day this year when Petruccelli and DiDomenico were able to re-write the Chapter 91 regulations within the State Budget – a re-write that served to basically block Global from getting its waterways license.
“We were up against the federal railroads and pre-emptive statutes that really didn’t allow local government and state government to intervene,” Petruccelli said. “That’s why we had to come up with a creative approach that was very respectful and very calculated and that’s how we proceeded.”
That budget amendment is still on the table – having passed the legislature last weekend – and is currently awaiting approval from Gov. Deval Patrick. Many are still fighting for the amendment, despite Global’s withdrawal. There is a sense that Patrick might veto the amendment, but it is still up in the air.
However, with it in place tentatively – along with a legal setback in a lawsuit Global had filed against the DEP for delaying their license – Global seemed to want to fold its cards.
Faneuil said he wanted to stress that the company had no hard feelings and believed everyone had conducted themselves professionally. For Chelsea and Revere, which both have Global terminals, it was rather odd to be at odds with the oil giant – as they have existed for years on very good terms.
“I want to mirror those comments made about Global to reflect the interactions that Global had with the entire community and the legislators, with all of them being gentlemen and gentleladies during the entire engagement,” he concluded.
Cutline –
Hailing from Chelsea, Revere and Eastie, members of the grass-roots group that stood in opposition to the Global Petroleum Ethanol train plan gathered to celebrate Tuesday morning on the commuter rail tracks in Chelsea – a spot that the Ethanol trains would have rumbled through at least twice a week during the nighttime hours. Pictured here are (left to right) Judie Dyer, Anthony Orellana, Gladys Vega, Marangely Vasquez, Roseann Bongiovanni, Jovanna Garcia-Soto, David Mussina, John Kennard, Kim Foltz, Rita Falzarano and Attorney Staci Rubin.