Traffic Concerns

It has been estimated by the developer that the biomass facility would require the arrival of 80-100 trucks per day (160-200 round trips), traveling on US Route 7, VT Route 346 and MA Route 2. These roads are almost entirely 2 lane roads, whose capacity to support such an increase in traffic, without huge increases in traffic congestion and a radical altering of the experience of living in our towns, is a very significant issue. Moreover, who will pay for the upkeep of these roads, which will be deeply “impacted” by this new truck traffic.

For Pownal, Rt 7 is the only southbound road, and the increase in traffic on this road not only would be dramatic, but also unavoidable for Pownal residents. Is this fair, when no other alternatives exist?

It also seems that this estimate does not account for the fact that once a truck arrives at the plant, it will not stay, but will need to return where it came from, making the increase in daily heavy truck traffic 192 trucks, not 96. While the developers took pains to downplay this number, noting that this stretch of road has been counted as currently having 7000 vehicles per day, the difference between car traffic that is passing through and heavy trucks (18 wheelers-anyone who drives knows that this is a significant change), which are also turning must be considered. For example, left turns by trucks going into the plant have the potential to impede the safe flow of traffic northbound, and the developer currently described no plans to add a turning lane to the highway.

Furthermore, diesel trucks get about 6 mpg and emit smog-forming nitrogen oxides (NOx) and fine particulates. The U.S. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health and the WHO have determined that diesel exhaust is a potential or probable carcinogen, and the California EPA has classified it as a known carcinogen. The sheer volume of the diesel trucks necessary for the operation of this facility challenges the notion of it being “green.” Isn’t the plant supposed to be a solution to fossil fuel emissions and our dependence on foreign oil?