Proposed power plant will benefit Billerica in myriad ways

New to the site and the discussion, as a Billerica resident, I don't believe we need a power plant. Billerica is one of Americas best sports towns. Certainly having a power plant placed in our town is not going to benefit anyone except those that own it and the ones that already have money. Some of these posts just seem ridiculous! "If people don't like it they don't have to move here". That has to be the worst arguement I have ever heard. First of all I have lived in Billerica far longer than any talk about a power plant, and i live less than 2 miles from the location where they want to build it. I don't consider my area of town a poor neighborhood there Fred N from Billerica. The power plant isn't just going to affect it's nextdoor neighbors, it is going to affect everyone around it. As for comparing jack's junkyard to a Power Plant!? That is just insane. What we need to do is develop solar and wind energies. We could easily put plenty of solar panels or windmills where this supposed power plant is going to go.

Rick from Billerica wrote:

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Hey anonymous! It's a good thing you are wearing a disguise. This is what you get when you "Google: Phil United States". Not much! I just wonder what I'd get if I were to Google "Anonymous". LOL
Some people are so lacking in thought that for them crossing the street is a heaven sent miracle.

Rick I actually agree with you completely.
I have nothing against unions at all especially against my family members. The statement was made out of anger for some frequent posters who have commercial interests of a particular union and have not been forthcoming. I will respect the rights of this property owner completely if they do not take away my rights. They have bashed our neighborhood on a personal level. The statement that you made "I see this issue as one of public safety first and commercial interests second" is one that I wish some would take to heart regardless of money. Thank you for correcting me.

I wasn't trying to correct you; I was poking fun of the suggestion of googling "anonymous" to find out more about one's identity. I thought it was hilarious.:-)
We do seem to see eye to eye. I do believe that constructing a power plant in a town that will not see the benefit of the power produced by such a plant is absurd. It is especially absurd if there is a chance that the quality of the air, water or senses of neighbors or passers-by will be offended without benefit. It is especially absured if neighboring property values will plumment without some sort of compensating benefit.
These are the concerns that should have the attention of the planning board, the zoning board and the board of selectman. The planning board is supposed to be looking well into the future and building the town according to a master plan that assures quality community life, low taxes, high numbers of quality jobs available locally, and a variety of amenities to entice new home owners or to keep the property values of the community high.
Instead, we've been subjected to a helter skelter mish mash of housing, industry and erratic growth in a rush to pull in tax revenue to cover the cost of reckless and needless spending. Their obsession with protecting beaver dams, mosquito havens, exploding coyote populations and their indifference to protectiong the local population from diseases such as EEE, rabies, rocky mountain spotted fever, Lyme disease, Human Anaplasmosis, Babesiosis, Human Monocytic Ehrlichiosis and more by banning airborne spraying is anathema to good governance.
The zoning board has done a little better by at least trying to spread business development around and using the town woodland areas as screens to help maintain a more suburban or rural appearance. The problem they face now is that we are running out of patches of trees.
The wacko environmentalists run rampant over all of the town boards by both protecting wetlands of the most dubious value, and by creating even new ones at the expense of individual liberty by allowing exploding beaver population that dam rivers and streams and make living for humans more difficult than need be.
We have a board of selectmen who appear to take great joy in gaining national attention over the petty matter of texting, but who also show little to no interest or understanding of pressing fiscal issues facing the town.
Why are local, state and federal pensions based upon the military model (20 - 30 years of service = 50%- 75% of highest three years earned? How many highway workers have lost legs and arms to IEDs paving our local roads? Actually, how many have even paved a road lately? How many board members and town hall workers have been killed defending liberty in a foreign land? How many town employees have deployed for months or years away from their families to serve their town and nation? How many town engineers have gone on under ice ops in a nuclear powered submarine propelled by a nuclear reactor to remap channels beneath the artic ice in case of conflict? The answer to all of these questions is NONE, NADA, NOT ONE!
If the town fathers want to save money, strip the pension and benefit system of public sector employees. They are hired to serve their community. They are entitled to a decent wage, but the combined salary and benefits packages are too high, too expensive and no where close to justifiable in the bigger picture. Private sector employees have to compete for jobs, promotions and benefits. Most don't have union "protection" (substitute "extortion") and must EARN THEIR KEEP.
How is this new experiment with socialism going so far? Are you feeling better about your future? I know I'm worried about the mess we are leaving our grand-children and beyond. I'll be dead before the piper demands payment, but my children and grand-children will be very much alive, but far from well.(continued)

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Those of us from the baby boom generation of self-indulgent, if it feels good; do it, hedonistic cretins should feel ashamed at the loss of individual liberty protections and national wealth created by honest workers, honest businessmen and honest creators of the modern marvels we interact with every day.
Many have deliberately blinded themselves to the wrong they've commited or looked away from for the convenience of immediate satisfaction. Many of this generation not only ruined or wasted their own lives, but raised future burdens and clusters of ne'r do wells by abdicating parental responsibility for material comfort.
I've only lived 60 years so far, but I must say that the downward trend of changes in social values and popular culture from 1949 through today is enough to make anyone of conscience cry. The day the government began nationalization of the economy is the day America died and no matter how much you wash your hands, you will not remove the blood. Welcome to the realm of MacBeth.