Remarks prepared for the Peabody meeting of the ISO New England Community Liaison Group on June 8, 2023.
I’m Jerry Halberstadt, a founding member of Breathe Clean North Shore and Coordinator of the Clean Power Coalition and of Healthy Air Peabody.
We welcome our neighbors who live in Peabody, Danvers, Salem, and other North Shore communities. Please, will everyone join me in offering a warm welcome to the ISO New England Community Liaison Group.
Thank you for honoring us by coming to Peabody, the proud city of the North Shore, where we enjoy reliable electric service by the Peabody Municipal Light Plant.
Thank you for the work you do in creating the framework for reliable power and by helping us learn about the power challenges we must all face together.
Thank you, Nathan Phillips, Sudi Smoller, Steve Andrada, Mireille Beijani, and many more whose dedication made today's event possible.
Thank you, Senator Joan Lovely and Representative Sally Kerans, for your support.
We’ve had our differences with the power industry, and today I’m asking we put those aside.
Now let’s work together! For Healthy Air and Clean Power
Does everyone wants their family (children, adults, and elderly) to enjoy good health?
Do we all want to breathe healthy air, avoid illness, and live a long, happy life?
Global warming is a threat to everything. We know that most people don’t
want to think about the impact of pollution on the climate, and we don’t
want to talk about the massive changes in our lives needed to slow global
warming.
So instead, let’s talk about how pollution makes us sick and
kills us.
Pride in Peabody? Yes, the pollution in Peabody is exceptional: there’s so much that our people are getting sick and dying.
Pollution causes illness and deaths in all parts of Peabody as well as the environmental justice areas.
Today Peabody experiences high levels of pollution caused by our homes, offices, stores, and factories---as well as electric generators. Another major source of pollution is transportation: cars, trucks, trains, and aircraft.
How can we mitigate the harm to health from pollution in the short term?
The Healthy Air program will help residents learn about the danger that pollution poses to their health and inform them how to mitigate the danger and protect themselves.
The Healthy Air program will empower people to advocate for changes in policy to reduce pollution from all sources.
We'll all have to use cleaner technologies, and reduce demand during peak usage.
We who live in Peabody will work together with our civic leaders and the Peabody Municipal Light Plant on local issues, and we can be your partners in seeking policies to facilitate adapting and strengthening the electric grid.
Will you join us now to work together for reliable clean energy and healthy air?
What do we want? Healthy Air!
What do we want? Healthy Air!
When do we want it? Now!