News release: MassDEP rejects Holtec’s request to dump 1 million gallons of radioactive wastewater into Cape Cod Bay
For Immediate Release:
Thursday, July 18, 2024
For more information:
Diane Turco, Cape Downwinders and Save Our Bay MA, (508) 776-3132, tturco@comcast.net
Mary Lampert, Pilgrim Watch and Save Our Bay MA, (781) 934-0389, mary.lampert@comcast.net
Leigh-Anne Cole, Community Action Works, (617) 721-2858, leigh-anne@communityactionworks.org
News release: MassDEP rejects Holtec’s request to dump 1 million gallons of radioactive wastewater into Cape Cod Bay
Permit denial will protect water quality for millions of people, marine life
PLYMOUTH, Mass. — The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) on Thursday rejected Holtec International’s request for a permit to dump 1.1 million gallons of radioactive wastewater from the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station into Cape Cod Bay. This decision will protect Cape Cod, Plymouth, Kingston and Duxbury Bays and surrounding communities.
“I want to thank the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection for rejecting this permit that would’ve harmed dozens of communities in and near the Cape,” said Leigh-Anne Cole, the executive director of Community Action Works. “It was so inspiring to see community members and organizations such as Save Our Bay MA help organize the public around this issue. Community action is one of the main reasons the DEP made this decision.“
Save Our Bay MA — a coalition of conservation groups, industry groups, local leaders and concerned citizens — spearheaded the charge against the proposed dumping by holding rallies outside public hearings and at Plymouth Harbor, and educating and mobilizing the public.
“With a strong community coalition fighting with Save Our Bay MA, including fishermen, real estate professionals, indigenous activists, environmentalists, families and every elected official at the local, state, and federal level, Holtec’s plan to dump has been halted,” said Diane Turco, the director of Cape Downwinders. “We applaud Governor Healey and her administration for this great first step — upholding the law so Holtec cannot use our environment as collateral damage for its profit. However, the fight isn’t over; now we need to stop the forced evaporation of the radioactive water that has been occurring on the site.”
Holtec closed the Pilgrim station in June 2019 and is now decommissioning it (taking it apart), which requires disposing of any remaining nuclear waste. Holtec’s proposed solution was to dump the radioactive water into the Bay.
“Instead of agonizing, we got busy organizing and researching.“ said Mary Lampert, the director of Pilgrim Watch. “The key to victory was a Pilgrim Watch lawyer finding the state laws that made dumping into Cape Cod Bay illegal and making sure that the attorney general’s office, the new governor and DEP understood that Holtec had agreed to comply with them; and then organizing the public to pressure officials into enforcing those laws.”
On July 24, 2023, the MassDEP issued a tentative decision to reject Holtec’s permit based on the Oceans Sanctuaries Act and then opened the decision to public comment until August 31, 2023. Massachusetts residents and groups flooded the MassDEP with thousands of comments, a vast majority of them supporting the decision to deny Holtec’s permit. Now, the decision is final, signaling a major victory for the environmental and economic health of the Cape.
“Polluted runoff, algal blooms, plastic pollution and more already threaten our precious Cape Cod Bay“ said Janet Domenitz, the executive director of MASSPIRG. “It’s the understatement of the century to say we don’t need radioactive waste in our waters.”
Each of the people quoted above works for an organization that is part of the Save Our Bay MA coalition.
