Power Plant Agrees to Pay $6M and Finance Three Environmental Projects in EPA Settlement

By Jodie Carter

The owners of Exelon Generation power plant have agreed to finance three environmental projects:, a salt-marsh restoration, a restoration study of the Malden Rivera and a biking/walking path along the Mystic River. They have also agreed to pay a $1 million fine for clean air violations and another $5 million to upgrade commuter trains and city school buses and with emission-blocking filters.

The settlement requires $250,000 to be spent on the design of a commuter bike path over the Amelia Earhart Dam on the Mystic River. The dam includes a set of locks to control tidal flows (built in 1966) that is currently closed to the public. The proposed bike path will connect the Assembly Square development site in Somerville to land on the Everett side that has the potential for parks and development. Also allotted in the settlement is $250,000 to restore a one-acre marsh along Mill Creek in Chelsea and $118,000 a study of the restoration of the Malden River.

The plant, located in Everett, Mass., reached the settlement with the Environmental Protection Agency for clean air abuses involving smokestack violations at the Mystic Station plant from 1998 to 2003.

More information on environmental rules and news can be found from the EPA at www.epa.gov.