NORTHFIELD — Ten protesters with the environmental activist group Extinction Rebellion gathered at 5 a.m. Wednesday at the intake area of FirstLight Hydro Generating Co.’s Northfield Mountain Pumped Storage Station to demand the facility be shut down immediately.
The protesters trespassed under FirstLight’s fence and climbed onto the concrete intake area. For about an hour and half, they held signs and chanted occasionally until a FirstLight worker and Police Chief Jon Hall arrived. They were threatened with arrest if they did not leave and complied with the order.
“I think this protest was successful,” commented Conway resident Priscilla Lynch, an organizer of the protest. “We’ll be back.”
A FirstLight spokesperson said the company called police after learning of the protest and breach of its safety barrier, though it has decided not to press charges.
“If someone were to fall into the water near the intake, it could put that person, as well as first responders charged with rescuing them, into a potentially life-threatening situation,” Len Greene, FirstLight’s head of government affairs and communications, said in a statement. “It is incredibly dangerous for anyone to cross safety barriers in the vicinity of an electric generation facility, particularly around rushing water.
“We are relieved that no one was hurt and we urge anyone with concerns about FirstLight’s clean, renewable energy operations to express their views in a responsible way,” he said.
More electricity is needed at night because more lights are turned on and more people are at home during that time, and electricity is more expensive during this time as well. The Northfield Mountain Pumped Storage Station uses the electrical grid, with 60% natural gas, during off-peak times to pump water from the Connecticut River to a reservoir on the top of the mountain. During peak electricity demand, the water is released and goes through a turbine, generating electricity when it is needed.
“Millions of fish get sucked into it,” said Northfield resident Cate Woolner, an organizer of Wednesday’s protest. “It is really bad for the river.”
“Think of it as a giant electric toilet,” said Karl Meyer, an environmental journalist from Greenfield who was not partaking in the protest. He explained nothing can survive through the turbines used by the storage station. According to Meyer, the volume of a four-story building worth of wildlife gets killed every second the turbine is operating.
“Our river should not be used like this when there is no public benefit,” said protester Glen Ayers, a former health agent from Greenfield.
FirstLight has submitted its Amended Final License Application to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for a new 50-year license to operate. The three facilities up for relicensing through FERC — the hydro-pump facility at Northfield Mountain and two hydroelectric dams in Turners Falls — have been criticized for their impact on fish populations, the Connecticut River and the surrounding environment.
Extinction Rebellion is targeting the Northfield facility now to apply pressure to the government to not renew the license.
The global environmental movement Extinction Rebellion uses nonviolent civil disobedience tactics to pressure governments to take a variety of climate-related actions. The movement is non-hierarchical, and any group can claim to work within the Extinction Rebellion movement.
“It’s not that all power storage is horrendous,” said Montague resident Bart Bouricius, who was at the protest. “Just that here they are doing it poorly.”
Reach Bella Levavi at blevavi@recorder.com or 413-930-4579.