submitted by Verna Kosiba of Upton
Letter to the Editor
The Emperor’s New Clothes.
As I sit here in my house on this crisp fall morning, with the windows closed and my radio playing; I still hear clearly the incessant sounds of pellet plant operations. This very fact brings to mind the Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale about the emperor’s new clothes. You know, the one about the exceedingly vain emperor who bought into the belief that the material his new clothes were made of could only be seen by worthy and smart people and that the material was invisible to unfit and stupid people. And how, since everyone wanted to be thought of as worthy and smart, they all praised his invisible new clothes until one little child said “but he doesn’t have anything on”.
Well, in this case the emperor is Jon Delli Priscoli asserting that the pellet plant is a transloading facility and not a manufacturing facility and is preempted from all regulations. Our local officials are the townspeople, worshipping at his feet, who are ignoring repeated confirmations that even a transloading facility is not preempted from the Clean Air Act under which noise pollution falls and are asserting that “it is very difficult to hear any noise coming from the pellet operation”. And we, the residents of the area, represent the one little child and we are saying that:
1. The plant is not a transloading facility and is manufacturing pellets
2. That even if it were a transloading facility, it is not prempted from the Clean Air Act under which noise pollution falls
3. And that all the alleged now completed repairs have done nothing to lower the decibel levels coming from the pellet plant
I challenge everyone to come on by, turn off your car, roll down your windows, and listen. Is it really barely discernible? Would you want to live with that noise? The pellet facility is operating about 20 out of every 24 hours and the noise is way more than barely discernible.
By the way, all the residents have asked for is that the plant not operate between the hours of 7pm and 7am until noise levels fall within legal parameters. Is it really too much to want to be able to sleep at night? Is it really too much to expect our elected officials to do their job? You decide.
NOTE: The quote “it is very difficult to hear any noise coming from the pellet operation” is from the October 9th Upton Board of Health minutes.
Verna Kosiba
Upton, MA
UPTON DAILY 
This letter to the editor by Verna Kosiba follows on her letter of August 22 concerning the noise pollution by the pellet bagging plant on the property of the G&U Railroad. A press release by the G&U on the same issue was posted on the Upton Daily on October 22. In the light of the issue at point, namely the noise and hours operation of the plant, the G&U press release is disingenuous and misleading.
Throughout that press release the citizens who are seeking relief from the noise of the plant are frequentlyreferred to as litigants who want to halt the operarion of the plant. Neither of these characterizations are true.
The people of the town want the hours of operation limited and the noise reduced so they can live and raise their families peacefully especially late at night. They do not seek to halt the operation of the plant. Moreover, they are not litigants. By every definition a litigant is a party to a lawsuit. Both plaintiffs and defendents are properly called litigants. In the present instance there is no lawsuit so it is deceptive to call the people litigants.
It is also confusing to discuss the issue in these terms. Some citizens of Upton have petitioned the STB for a declaratory judgment on the claim to preemption of the activities on the railyard made by the G&U. That is not a lawsuit and those who have petitioned the STB are not litigants. It is premature and prejudicial for the G&U to assert that the activities on the railyard are preempted.That decision has yet to be made by the STB.
By referring to the people who are disturbed by the noise of that pellet plant as litigants an adversarial relationship is implied. It gives the impression that the plant is going about its innoscent business, trying its best to be cooperative with the town and some disgruntled people are bringing lawsuits against them.That is simply not the case.
The letter to the editor above is asking for a fair hearing and measurement of the noise levels. That is something that the Board of Health, the local police and the DEP have so far not done. The G&U claims to have a “good working relationship with the town officials in Upton…” There is at least a hint of conflict of interest in that working relatioship. According to the testimony of the people living in proximity to that plant the town officials have paid only perfunctory attention to their problems and plead that they are helpless to mitigate their suffering..