From:
Lynn Benander
Date:
2007 Jun 06 16:30 UTC
Short link
As I've been reflecting on our conversations here online, I've been thinking
more about the legal and political realities of what this regional plan can do.
Coming to a common understanding of a regional plan's role might help us figure
out what to include in it and what not to.
First, plants are authorized through local and state permits, not at any
regional board, so decisions are local with state input. We have no idea what
plants will be proposed in the next five years. We do not have a way to convene
a regional group to play a role in the siting of a plant that has been proposed
or that will be proposed in the future. It takes a tremendous amount of due
diligence, as you know, to make wise decisions about whether a specific project
should go forward. This regional effort does not have the resources to take on
this job at this time. If we somehow worked with the cities and towns to
develop a group with the technical expertise to serve in a coaching role to
help them figure out whether to allow a specific plant, we'd have to raise
significant resources to staff that process.
This regional plan can give guidelines to local elected officials for making
decisions, but specific decisions about the siting of any plant will be made by
the specific city or town and the state permitting agencies.
I have come to believe that it is more powerful for us to adopt recommended
guidelines for communities and have them each decide whether or not to sign off
on them, than to figure out how to gather the resources to do another layer of
due diligence on every proposed project in the region.