Mother Nature Network is an Atlanta based media company which owns mnn.com and treehugger.com, the world’s two most visited websites for environmental news and information. The sites attract over 7 million visits each month and were launched by Rolling Stones Keyboardist Chuck Leavell and former marketing executive Joel Babbit.
On March 27th MNN ran an article about Upton .
Upton’s neighborhood bully: A chemical storage terminal.
Here is just a portion of the article…
It seems clear why residents are concerned. Approximately a mile from the site are several schools, residential homes, a senior housing development, wetlands and wells that provide most of the town’s water supply. Chemicals being handled on the property include nitric acid, a strong corrosive often used with ammonia to produce fertilizers; ethanol, used as a motor fuel additive; and toluene, widely used as an industrial feedstock and as a powerful solvent. All of the above are highly volatile and could certainly pose a risk to public health in case of accidental release. Furthermore, Dana Transport has a questionable safety record and no permit to operate on the property, instead claiming a federal preemption that allows railroads to bypass state and local laws in the name of interstate commerce. But does this all really add up?
For the complete article go here.
image from google maps 2013
UPTON DAILY 
personally I really hope the railroad goes after XXXX as I am truly sick of this lopsided Nimby debate
“personally I really hope the railroad goes after XXXX as I am truly sick of this lopsided Nimby debate” WOW sounds like Annonymous Upton resident – too scared to post his name, there has learned a thing or two about being a Bully from his buddy the RR owner! I guess $$ means more to some people than their town becoming a toxic waste dump. what happens when all our properties are worth nothing? They’ve already all dropped at least 40k since the RR’s brought all these shady businesses.
sounds like the town selectmen are in bed w/ some nasty folk
I am thrilled by the attention this is generating and feel sure it will help immensely. Negative publicity is powerful!!! None of this would have happened if the selectmen in Grafton had done what was needed in the first place, alas. I’ll bet they’re sorry now!
Mother nature? treehugger.com? sure, these are real groups of independent thought-just like XXXX XXXXX and her inflammatory bogus website so full of incorrect information-the real facts are as follows and are well documented if you care to read the truth and ask the people who run the town-there is no storage on the site and everyone knows it but you refuse to accept it-why didn’t you wing nuts buy the upton fuel site when you had the chance? why did you all pollute this site with your municipal dump then walk away from it? you simply don’t like commerce and jobs when its in your backyard so just be honest for once and state that-why did you buy houses next to a railroad to begin with? from what I can see from the last 4 years reading about this- the railroad is not going anywhere since its only been in town since 1890 or so -how long have you lived here? personally I really hope the railroad goes after XXXX as I am truly sick of this lopsided Nimby debate-Move out or move on!!!
Those of us who are working hard to raise awareness know why we are doing this: we want Upton to be a zero-risk environment for our children. We want to protect our town from businesses which could cause environmental destruction. We want to have clean water to drink and clean air to breathe and protect our property values.
Carry on Friends and keep up the good fight!
Jenn – you can allow my real name: Chris Lazar