COURTESY PILGRIM NUCLEAR POWER STATION
PLYMOUTH – Plymouth lawmakers have proposed legislation that would eliminate citizen seats from the Nuclear Decommissioning Citizens Advisory Panel.
The January 23 meeting featured a presentation from Plymouth State Representative Matthew Muratore about the bill he recently filed that would cut down the membership of the group from 21 to 15.
The group has done significant advisory and outreach work related to the decommissioning of the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station.
Holtec International, the company in charge of the decommissioning, is still pursuing an updated permit that would allow them to discharge about a million gallons of radioactive wastewater from the facility into Cape Cod Bay.
Association to Preserve Cape Cod Executive Director Andrew Gottlieb said his position would be one of the eliminated seats if Muratore’s legislation passed. Gottlieb was appointed to the group by former Governor Charlie Baker.
Gottlieb said he thought the move to get rid of the six seats was a way to disenfranchise the residents of the region, the millions of people who visit Cape Cod each year, and the businesses that rely on that tourism.
“It’s really disenfranchising them from the process and removing their voice from the process,” he said.
He added he plans to fight the legislation as long as Holtec is pursuing dumping radioactive water into the bay.
Muratore said he and other Plymouth lawmakers filed the legislation to make the panel more effective and to “prepare the community for what lies ahead once (the site) is cleaned up.”
Muratore said the state “needs to step up” in the decommissioning process moving forward.
NDCAP’s monthly meetings would also become quarterly under the proposed bill. It would also be renamed the Pilgrim Decommissioning State Oversight Panel.
Listen to the full Sunday Journal interview with Andrew Gottlieb.
By Brian Engles, CapeCod.com NewsCenter
About Brian Engles
