press release
Upton – The Grafton and Upton Railroad is protesting a meeting that state officials have scheduled with litigants who are trying to halt portions of the railroad’s West Upton yard operations, a meeting railroad officials have been told they cannot attend.
Set up by state Sen. Michael O. Moore, who represents Upton, the meeting is with a group of Upton residents who have filed a petition with the federal Surface Transportation Board (STB), which governs railroad operations, and the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), at DEP’s Worcester office. Sen. Moore also invited one member of the Upton Board of Health, Richard Desjardins. The meeting is scheduled for Oct. 22.
The STB recently decided another petition, this one by the Town of Grafton, which sought to prohibit the railroad from transloading liquid propane gas at its North Grafton yard, fully in favor of the railroad. The town has filed an appeal of that decision in the federal First Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston. On the heels of the STB decision, the railroad convinced a judge to dismiss all actions the town had initially brought against the railroad in state Superior Court as well.
“My issue now is with the fact that litigants against the railroad have been invited to meet with public officials behind closed doors,” said railroad owner Jon Delli Priscoli. “Because the litigants against the railroad will be there, I feel we should be able to participate. I’m extremely disappointed that Sen. Moore, who got great publicity when he visited the railroad early on, would now exclude us from this meeting.”
Delli Priscoli also said the fact that the railroad is forbidden to attend calls into question the objectivity of state officials who are not part of the case currently before the STB.
In stark contrast, the Upton Board of Health, in response to the scheduled meeting, attempted to get all parties to attend a public meeting in Upton. Delli Priscoli agreed to attend any such public meeting, but other parties rejected the dates proposed by the Board of Health. Finally, the Board of Health scheduled the meeting for October 9th and said any interested parties could attend. Neither Sen. Moore, nor any of the litigants attended the meeting. However, Delli Priscoli, and G&U yard supervisor Mike Polselli did attend and briefed the town on some ongoing projects.
In particular, Polselli detailed a soundproofing operation the railroad voluntarily undertook to reduce noise coming from the wood pellet bagging building at the West Upton yard. The wood pellets arrive in hopper cars, are vacuumed into a silo, then bagged and put on pallets for final delivery to sellers via truck.
The litigants have maintained to the STB that the bagging operation constitutes manufacturing. The railroad maintains that bagging the pellets and putting them on trucks is a standard transloading operation that the railroad engages in with all manner of products coming in to the yard.
“We try our best to be a good neighbor. The soundproofing is not something we had to do,” said Delli Priscoli, noting that all transloading operations are governed by federal, not local or state, regulations. “But because we have a good working relationship with town officials in Upton, we wanted to work with them to make the pellet bagging operation as quiet as we can.”
UPTON DAILY 
Since when is Sen. Mike Moore “neutral” he does everything possible to crush the railroad along with all the jobs and commerce they have created. Sen Moore is your classic “hack” never owed a business, never took chances just milked the taxpayers for his entire career . Now he is actively trying to kill what little economic development Upton has. Perhaps Sen Moore could make an offer to buy the railroad then give it to his supporters and pay for unemployment for over 50 people! Honestly these people are all the same only the names change!
I agree with “Resident”. The town blew it big time when they did not purchase the property. If the latte sippers & complainers don’t like it here, it’s time for them to get out of Upton. The railroad is preempted & there is nothing anyone can do about it. The town officials and BOH have stated this repeatedly. This is why the BOH & town manager are not bothering to go to the meeting with the Senator today- there is nothing more that can be done- it is out of their hands. Why should they waste their time trying to find a solution? The future is mapped out for these people & it is grim. The railroad has done some voluntary noise mitigation work that they didn’t have to do- although it was not effective at all in getting rid of the sound- let’s face it, they didn’t have to do it anyway. The railroad has a free hand to do whatever the want, does not have to do anything further about the noise & are accountable to no one. If the railroad wants to run a noisy 24/7 operation & the affected residents are driven out of their homes, it is their right to do so according to the town officials. It probably will be tough to sell houses in the affected area because of the 24 hour noise and unlikely but real risk of toxic waste contamination of private wells in the area because of possibility of a major spill at the railroad yard. But there are buyers for distressed neighborhoods like this one such as “webuyuglyhouses.com”. They pay cash & but will not pay market value (more like 50% of the value of the home), it is probably the only real option for these homeowners if they don’t want to live here. If Upton’s tax base takes a big hit due to the loss of the property valuations in this area, so be it. Upton is a rich town & can handle a tax increase of 5-10% because of this issue with no problem, Get over it!
Just to clarify a few things in this article.
1. It isn’t a closed door meeting. Originally Mr Desjardin was invited because he was the one who took the noise readings for the town. The invitation was extended to the town manager and the entire Board of Health. They refused to attend and decided to call their own meeting instead.
2. Only one of the three people in the meeting scheduled for the 22nd are litigants in the STB matter.
3. The three didn’t attend the BOH meeting as it was called with only 48 hours notice and all three were out of town.
4. The three (as well as many other residents) have been meeting and calling the BOH and town officials for over two years and both sides have already heard everything the other has had to say. It is time for a neutral party to evaluate the situation.
5. The residents have been trying to work cooperatively with the BOH regarding the noise of the pellet facility (which is over legal levels whenever it is operating) by just trying to get them to cease operations during the night time so that we can sleep.
6. The noise issue with the pellet facility is a completely separate and completely
different issue that the claim before the STB, which is also different from Grafton’s STB claim.
I could go on, but you get my point.
I agree let’s clarify a few things: (1) the Nimbys will never be happy until the railroad is shut down once and for all that is your bottom line so you should be honest and state that(2)this operation that you complain about is in a industrial area ,formally a burning dump, landfill etc… Not Loiusburg Square!(3) the town had the chance to buy the land they chose not to(4) the town along with the other 3 towns( I read in a court document somewhere) was offered the chance to buy the railroad they chose not to(5) the railroad from what I can see has done or tryed to be a good business neighbor but when the only satisfactory solution is the railroad folding all together there is not much to talk about- to use your phrase I could go on and on . I for one applaud the efforts of Upton officials for keeping us residents out of wasteful lawsuits that you can’t win and trying to work with with the railroad openly and honestly.
If this is a NIMBY issue, it is a huge NIMBY issue which affects dozens of homes. Now that the Pellet Plant is operating during the late evening & nighttime hours (24/7), residents in a large area of West Upton surrounding the Pellet Plant now have to listen to non-stop machinery noise that runs most of the night- not just a few homes abutting the Pellet Plant. It is very unpleasant and ruins the quality of life that many of us expected when we moved here. If nothing further is done to improve the situation, impacted homeowners can expect to lose millions of dollars in cumulative property valuation losses because most prospective buyers will not want to live in such a noisy area. Upton’s tax base will take a big hit due to the steep decline in property values in the affected area and Upton will need to raise the tax rate for all residents to make up for this significant decline in their tax base. The Senator is trying to help to find a solution to this difficult issue that works for everyone. I am confident that the town officials, railroad management, and impacted residents can find a compromise solution that will solve this issue to everyone’s satisfaction.