FirstLight should not be allowed to get its license renewed.
- More than two dozen protesters showed up on the Greenfield Common Saturday morning to protest the Northfield Mountain Pump
Published: 11/19/2021 10:45:00 AM
My name is Shayla Freeland, I’m 14 years old and I live in Gill. As some of you might know there is a power plant in Northfield called the Northfield Pump Station. There have been many people trying to prevent FirstLight, the owner of the pump station, from renewing its 50-year license to continue making electricity at the expense of our river.
On the bridge over the Connecticut River, crossing into Turners Falls, there have been two protests against this license. Many people have invested their time and energy to try and convey how bad this process is for the environment. Personally I agree with everyone who is trying to prevent this.
I live in Gill right next to the river and the dam (FirstLight also owns) so I can see firsthand the destruction the station is causing. I am able to see and smell the problems. The stench that comes from that part of the river can be absolutely horrendous. The turbines of the pump station suck in life and throw out death.
When they put up the dam, the other side gets very low in water and the sun fries up the bits of fish creating the horrible smell. Below the Turners Falls dam there is also an ancient shortnose sturgeon spawning ground and the same thing happens to them as the bits of fish. They fry. They rot. They go rancid.
As you can probably tell, this is not a naturally occurring problem, it’s a problem caused by FirstLight. In the night they suck water from the Connecticut River up the Northfield Mountain when electricity is cheap. To get the water up the mountain they have to burn fossil fuels to power the pumps. Not only are they polluting the earth with this dwindling resource (because they made a choice between easy money and protecting our home) they are completely killing and destroying our rivers ecosystem.
During the day when demand is high, they let the water back down the mountain. As it does this, it is going through turbines (which creates the electricity) chopping and killing animals. Twenty-four species have the wonderful chance to meet the deadly blades of the turbines.
Now FirstLight is about to renew their fifty year license. So they pollute the earth, kill the animals and the river’s ecosystem, but hey they’re making easy money and we’re getting electricity so it’s okay right? No, it’s not. And the electricity they are making doesn’t even get used by the people in this area. It’s getting stored as backup for some city.
Not only is the electricity not being used by the local population, but FirstLight is not paying any taxes to the town. They are an LLC based in Delaware so they are not obligated to pay us taxes. This pump station has no benefit to the people living in this area. We are not getting electricity or taxes.
It’s deadly turbines are killing fish and preventing them from helping our river prosper. FirstLight should not be allowed to get its license renewed because all they do is pollute the planet, kill animals and destroy the Connecticut’s ecosystem, which in turn will affect us too.
Shayla Freeland lives in Gill.