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The Herald, Fall River's daily newspaper, published this silly and ridiculous “obituary” for the largest and filthiest coal-fired power plant in New England. A facility that spewed toxic emissions into the air we breathe and contaminated aquatic life with mercury and other heavy metals.

http://www.heraldnews.com/opinion/20170604/our-view-obituary-for-brayton-point-1963-2017,

What a vacuous piece of puffery. Paper and ink wasted on an electrical generating facility that was too large and too dirty ...and that no better educated and more affluent community wanted. We wonder why?

Well, the power plant may be closed, but it is still, today, a visual blight on once beautiful Mount Hope Bay.

This monster power generating station came into existence destroying bucolic Brayton Point. It should never have been sited there. It was originally intended for a site near deep water close to the mouth of Narragansett Bay. Jamestown and Newport wanted no part of it. Fall River and Somerset, seeing only the tax dollars a power generating plant would pay, lobbied for it and welcomed it with open arms, despite the fact that it was too large and filthy a facility to site so far inland close to urban neighborhoods containing thousands of people.

When Brayton Point opened in 1962 foolish area political leaders and chamber-of-commerce types celebrated what their neighbors down the bay were happy to be rid of. Scant thought was given to the harm Brayton Point would do to the ecology of shallow Mount Hope Bay and the air pollution, particulate matter and heavy metals it would shower down on all of us. According to Harvard University studies, air pollution from the Brayton Point Power Plant has been responsible, annually, for over one hundred deaths and over 1,000 emergency room visits.

Hey, Herald News, Republic Services filthy and polluting “Mount Trashmore has closed too?” What, no obituary?

Here are a few photos of the largest of the many protests, over the years, to shut it down:

MA DCR – Do your job! Protect our public lands

Illegal off-road vehicle activity erosion on our DCR “managed” forest land.

EXCEL- Not excelling according to its Freetown neighbors.

Photo by Barry French

Freetown was a lovely New England town rich in both human and natural history.

Paleo-Indians following the melting glaciers moved into town at the end of the Ice Age, roughly 10,000 years ago. More recently Freemen ...Pilgrims and their descendants ...moved into the area and named the town. For many years development, though unplanned, stayed in balance with the environment.

Today, Freetown's two villages, Assonet and East Freetown, have experienced rapid unplanned growth and sprawl and some residents are waking up and wondering, “Where did my lovely small town go?”

Past newsletters have contained articles on how the Assonet Village of Freetown, if unplanned/unwise development continues, might as well annex itself to Fall River or, maybe, just change its name to North Fall River. Ironic that folks move out of cities for “country” peace and quiet in which to raise their families and then shortly begin to turn their rural/suburban heaven into the very same city “hell-hole” they escaped from.

This leads us to the present Freetown unwise development issue ...the acceptance of a scrap metal recycling company in town and the noise, air and water pollution problems allegedly caused by the Excel Recycling Company's Wendt M6090 metal shredder.

Obviously, we endorse recycling. Should Freetown have allowed a “dirty” recycling operation within 500' of homes along Alexandra Drive and High Street? The homes, after all, were there first.

Excel's neighbors and others that care about their town's quality of life want the town to close the shredder down. The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) ….a state environmental regulatory agency with a shaky environmental protection past ...has said Excel is in “conformance with air pollution control regulations.”http://www.mass.gov/eea/docs/dep/air/approvals/final2016/cpa-excelrecycling.pdf

Here's a fairly recent news article on the issue:http://www.southcoasttoday.com/news/20170222/neighbors-give-freetown-selectmen-earful-on-excel

Will the Freetown Selectmen hear the cries of those living near the shredder? It appears they dropped the ball when Excel came looking for a location for their shredder. Reportedly they were turned down by Westport and other towns. Why did Freetown welcome them?

If noise, air and water pollution levels are a health and safety hazard to residents of the town, the Freetown Board of Health should immediately declare Excel's operation a “noisome trade” and shut them down. Will Excel appeal? Probably ...but the town has a responsibility to protect its residents and the town's environment. Stay tuned for more on this issue in the coming months.

BIORESERVE FLORA OF THE MONTH – False Solomon's Seal(Maianthemum racemosum)

Why is it “false” Solomon's seal? Where is the genuine Solomon's seal?

Well, it is called “false” because of its similarity to another forest plant that is the same shade of green, has arching stems and alternating oblong leaves and grows in the same habitat. And, that other forest plant would be? Yes, the true Solomon's seal!

Both Solomon's seals are perennials growing from rhizomes (horizontal underground stems that produces shoots above and roots below) and can form large colonies when growing under ideal conditions in rich soil in shaded woods. Seal stems do not branch and can reach two to three feet in height.

When fully mature each false Solomon's seal stem produces a panicle (a much branched cluster of flowers) in mid to late spring. Each tiny white flower in the panicle consists of six tepals (outer part of a flower that consists of both petals and sepals).

The flower particles have a sweet scent and attract pollinating forest bees, flies, butterflies, moths and pollen eating beetles. Following pollination, a green berry forms that slowly turns bright red bylate summer/early fall.

Fruit and seed eating forest birds feed on the berries as do small mammals like mice and voles.

BIORESERVE FAUNA OF THE MONTH – Gray Tree Frog (Hyla versicolor)

Photo - Wikimedia Commons

Gray tree frogs are the closest thing in our New England forest to the tropical, color-changing chameleon. Having a limited palette of green, gray, pink, white and black to work with these frogs camouflage themselves to match the color of the object they are sitting on.

In their natural leaf and tree bark habitat their color varies from grays to greens to black. Males have darker colored throats than females otherwise they are colored alike. They average two inches in length and possess large, adhesive toepads that allow them to cling to vertical surfaces.

Male tree frogs are territorial and call frequently during the spring mating season. They will also often sound off to thunder, gun shots, slammed car doors or even loud human voices. If you go out looking to find one calling you will soon realize they are great ventriloquists, difficult to locate. Female tree frogs, however, seem to find the calling males without much difficulty.

Females are usually larger than the males and do not call. When ready to mate they head for the loudest calling male within hearing range and gingerly approach. When the calling male spots the approaching female he changes tune and trills to her. The amphibious couple then heads to the nearest water body where the female lays her eggs and the male, while clinging to her back, fertilizes them (amplexus). The eggs hatch within a week.

Tree frog tadpoles are light gray-green and have wide black-spotted tails. Tail color varies from light green to pink and fully grown tadpoles are an inch to an inch and a half in length. The tadpoles become tiny froglets and leave the pool of their birth by the end of the summer when metamorphosis may be speeded up if the pool begins to dry.

When gray tree frogs are seen it is often because they have left their treetop homes and ended up in an unnatural location. You may find one, usually early in the morning, clinging to the house under a dripping air conditioner, hanging on the edge of a swimming pool or sitting by an insect attracting porch light.

During the winter tree frogs hibernate under logs and in piles of leaves and other forest debris.

Karen Pearson – We can still hear her laughter

About to explore the Blackstone River Bikeway. Karen in the middle of the pack.

Karen Pearson passed away June 3, 2017. Karen and husband Brian were early Green Futures members. At that time we not only explored the Southeastern Massachusetts Bioreserve by foot, but also by bicycle.

Karen was a kind and caring person and could find humor and offer words of encouragement even when our bike rides collided with rain clouds or didn't go as planned. One of our early bike rides, with Brian on his new bike, occurred on an incredibly hot day that found us riding in the Southeastern Massachusetts Bioreserve. Our ride took us down Quanapoag Road ...a dirty, dusty, rocky, not-quite-a-road. We were hot and tired quietly walking our bikes down a boulder strewn hill when suddenly Karen's infectious laugh rang out. Looking back, there was a worried Brian frantically trying to wash the dust off his new bike with the last of his drinking water. We all had a good laugh ...even Brian.

Karen also possessed a wonderful ability to adapt to any situation. On another ride, this time through the Hockomock Swamp, the mosquitoes and deer flies were so thick it appeared we might find ourselves drained of blood well before exiting the far side of the swamp. While getting nibbled on we wondered should we turn around or continue on? Karen sized up the situation and yelled, “pedal faster.” We covered the distance in record time just ahead of our bloodthirsty pursuers.

Karen and Brian became such passionate bikers that they decided to organize a Fall River bicycling group. At that time Karen was employed as a graphic designer at the newspaper “O'Jornal” in Fall River. Her design skills came in handy designing the first organizational flier listing rides in the Fall River area and encouraging cyclists to join “Brian's Bicycle Buddies.” The first few rides consisted of Karen, Brian ...and one buddy.

With Karen's passionate support, this shaky start slowly metamorphosed, with the help of others interested in biking, into Bike Fall River and the active community bike group that exists today. As the biking group grew in number, Karen would often ride herd near the end of the pack to make sure no one got lost and everyone stayed together.

Karen loved to ride her bicycle, loved to volunteer introducing new people to bicycling and was a long time advocate for the creation of a bike path down the Quequechan River, now complete and known as the Alfred J. Lima Quequechan River Rail Trail.

Karen was a wonderful person in so many ways. Can't top that.

QUINTILIS – We call it July

To the ancient Romans March began the new year. The fifth month, Quintilis, meaning fifth, was renamed July by the Roman Senate in honor of Julius Caesar, it being the month of his birth.

July in Massachusetts is the perfect month to get out in nature. Everything is lush and green. Explore a forest near you or visit cool coastal areas. Hike the green hills and mountains of Berkshire and Franklin Counties. Have fun! It is summer and summer doesn't last long in New England.

Click on our Calender here.

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Newsletters

July 2017 - False Solomon's Seal, Gray Tree Frog

SOME ENVIRONMENTAL NEWS LINKS FROM OUR READERS

HOW ABOUT AN OBITUARY FOR ALL THOSE WHO DIED DUE TO THE LARGEST AND FILTHIEST FOSSIL-FUEL FIRED POWER PLANT IN NEW ENGLAND?

MA DCR – Do your job! Protect our public lands

EXCEL- Not excelling according to its Freetown neighbors.

BIORESERVE FLORA OF THE MONTH – False Solomon's Seal(Maianthemum racemosum)

BIORESERVE FAUNA OF THE MONTH – Gray Tree Frog (Hyla versicolor)

Karen Pearson – We can still hear her laughter

QUINTILIS – We call it July

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Newsletters

July 2017 - False Solomon's Seal, Gray Tree Frog

SOME ENVIRONMENTAL NEWS LINKS FROM OUR READERS

HOW ABOUT AN OBITUARY FOR ALL THOSE WHO DIED DUE TO THE LARGEST AND FILTHIEST FOSSIL-FUEL FIRED POWER PLANT IN NEW ENGLAND?

MA DCR – Do your job! Protect our public lands

EXCEL- Not excelling according to its Freetown neighbors.

BIORESERVE FLORA OF THE MONTH – False Solomon's Seal(Maianthemum racemosum)

BIORESERVE FAUNA OF THE MONTH – Gray Tree Frog (Hyla versicolor)

Karen Pearson – We can still hear her laughter

QUINTILIS – We call it July

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Site Search

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