To the Select Board: We, the undersigned, are qualified voters of the Town of Templeton and request the subject below be acted upon at Special Town Meeting.

Citizen Petition (including footnotes & definitions) :

To see if the Town will vote to enact a Moratorium on Waste Plastics Incineration within Templeton.

This Moratorium when enacted prohibits for a Period of 12 Months Waste Plastics Incineration, AKA Pyrolysis, Advanced Recycling, Gasification, or other high-heat waste facility, treatment or handling or solid waste or waste plastic involving or intending to involve mechanical treatment, heat, or solvents. It further prohibits transport into town of solid waste or waste plastic or stockpiling solid waste or waste plastic or any plastic for the purpose of what is now defined under law as incineration.

WHEREAS, The residents of the town of Templeton have ALREADY been poisoned by contaminants from more than one site or incident and will not AGAIN tolerate new toxic threats anywhere in town; and

WHEREAS, a waste plastic incinerator plant involves 24/7 operation in the vicinity of densely populated neighborhoods, schools, churches, farms, senior

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living facilities, health care centers, conservation land and/or state forest; and

WHEREAS, scientific evidence demonstrates that use of heat or solvents to incinerate/break down waste plastic releases or threatens to release hazardous pollutants into the environment (e.g. dioxin crude, contaminated hydrocarbon fuels, benzene, PFAS, PDBE, heavy metals); and 

WHEREAS, waste plastic incineration and associated handling emits pollution, releases micro plastic dust and contaminants into the environment, involves noise pollution, release of odiferous, noxious gasses, excessive diesel exhaust from trucks, trains, and other machinery used to handle waste plastic, and would be a nuisance to the town and the region, and a blight on its historical character; and

WHEREAS, stockpiling, treating, or handling of large quantities waste plastic related to its incineration, or resultant flammable oils or gasses at any proposed plant presents unacceptable fire and explosion danger to the region and state beyond effective combined response capacity of fire departments of Templeton, Gardner, Winchendon, Royalston, Phillipston, Hubbardston or other communities along the rail lines; and

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WHEREAS, washing or cooling waste plastic before, during, or after processing unduly risks polluting natural resources such as the Otter River and Town Wells; and

WHEREAS, waste plastic incineration plants lack reliable safety or sustainability records and have not shown the technology to be safe and reliable, have a record of toxic emissions, failure, explosion, fire, false claims of sustainability, and bankruptcy; and

WHEREAS, any plan involving handling or transport  of tons of flammable oil or gas derived from waste plastic via rail tank cars or other means through Templeton to other Massachusetts’ cities and towns risks a derailment disaster such as occurred in East Palestine, Ohio; and

WHEREAS, human life and critical resources and infrastructure such as the electric grid would be put at imminent risk from explosion or fires such as have occurred at other waste plastic incineration or handling sites; and

WHEREAS,  residents and officials of communities including Templeton, Winchendon, and others affected, the Regional Planning Board, State and Federal officials require time to investigate the impacts that waste plastic incineration, AKA

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advanced recycling, pyrolysis, gasification, etc. would

have on the community's safety and well-being before any facility that converts, or attempts to convert, waste plastics, into fuel or feedstock through certain chemical conversion processes, including pyrolysis or gasification, starts construction and begins operating; and 

WHEREAS, a moratorium will allow time to accomplish this goal:

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE RESIDENTS OF TEMPLETON MASSACHUSETTS: 

SECTION 1 

The Residents and public officials of Templeton hereby imposes a moratorium on construction and operation of any facility that converts, or attempts to convert, waste plastics, into fuel or feedstock through any heat, pressure, or chemical conversion processes, including pyrolysis or gasification, or the import into town of waste plastics for any related purpose, for 12 months.

SECTION 2 

That Templeton elected officials and residents find that a moratorium for 12 months is reasonable and will allow for adequate research into these types of

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facilities and responsive action.

SECTION 3 

That this ordinance is hereby declared to be an emergency measure necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, welfare and safety, the emergency being the necessity to impose a moratorium for a period of 12 months on waste plastic incineration, AKA pyrolysis or gasification, combustion or transport of waste plastic in the Town of Templeton, as above described; and provided it receives an affirmative vote; it shall take effect and be in force from and after the earliest period allowed by law. 

Notes and definitions:

Incineration of trash or waste plastic – or turning trash into fuel and then burning that fuel – is expensive, toxic, climate-damaging, and inequitable. Facilities that process waste using high heat technology – including incineration, gasification, pyrolysis, solvolysis, depolymerization, and “advanced recycling” – release toxic pollutants including lead, mercury, and dioxins.         

Moreover, emissions from these facilities – and emissions the combustion of fuels and waste products generated through gasification and pyrolysis – contribute to climate damage.

Trash or waste plastic incineration facilities need permits or licenses from town officials before they can open their doors and start burning. This moratorium prohibits Templeton from issuing those permits and licenses for twelve months.

This model also includes a detailed set of definitions that ensure that the prohibition applies to a facility using any type of technology – including gas gasification, pyrolysis, solvolysis, depolymerization, or anything branded as

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“chemical recycling,” “advanced recycling,” or “molecular recycling” – to expose any type of waste -- including household trash, commercial waste, construction debris, recyclables, or waste plastic – to temperatures above 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

Section 1: Definitions

“Depolymerization”: a process through which heat, pressure, and/or solvents are used to break plastic polymers into oligomers and/or monomers.
“Gasification”: a process through which materials are exposed to heat, converting carbon-based materials to synthetic fuels, gasses, chemical feedstocks, waxes, lubricants, or other substances and solid residues, slag, ash, char, liquid wastes, and/or wastewater.

“Handling”: placement of plastic waste on a property within Templeton for future use, transport, oversight, and managing of plastic waste, treatment, storage, or processing of plastic waste - such as changing its character or composition through physical, chemical, or heat treatment.

“High-heat waste facility”: a facility which:
(a) uses any disposal, treatment, recycling, or manufacturing process –
including but not limited to combustion, incineration, gasification, pyrolysis, hydropyrolysis, solvolysis, or depolymerization – that exposes solid waste, segregated solid waste, recyclable materials, construction and demolition debris, post-use polymers, or recovered feedstock to temperatures above 400 degrees Fahrenheit; or
(b) combusts chemicals, feedstocks, fuels, monomers, oligomers,

hydrocarbons, or waste residues derived from any process that exposes solid waste, segregated solid waste, recyclable materials, construction and demolition debris, post-use polymers, or recovered feedstock to temperatures above 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

“High-heat waste facility”: includes advanced recycling facilities, chemical recycling facilities, molecular recycling facilities, and any other facility that uses a thermochemical process to convert post-use polymers, plastic, or recovered feedstock into fuels, chemical feedstocks, monomers, oligomers, hydrocarbons, waxes, lubricants feedstocks, fuels, monomers, oligomers, or hydrocarbons.

“Hydropyrolysis”: a process through which materials are exposed to heat in the presence of hydrogen, converting carbon-based materials to synthetic fuels, chemical feedstocks, waxes, lubricants, or other substances and solid residues,

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slag, ash, char, liquid wastes, and/or wastewater.

“Incineration”: any high heat treatment or solid waste incineration units per Clean Air Act section 129 of the clean air act, and including incineration of trash, refuse, or waste plastic.

“Plastic”: a synthetic material made from linking monomers through a chemical reaction to create a polymer chain, including material derived from either petroleum or a biologically based polymer, such as corn or other plant sources and includes the thousands of chemicals added for appearance or performance, many of them toxic. Up to 40% plastic is used in tires. Therefore tires are a plastic material.

“Waste Plastic” includes,“Post-use polymer” ,“Recovered Feedstock”, “Raw Material”, “Material”, “Feedstock”, “Recyclable Plastic”, tires, or any polymers discarded or to be discarded, and means a plastic or polymer previously used in

industrial, commercial, medical, agricultural, or domestic activity.

“Pyrolysis”: a process through which materials are exposed to heat in the absence of oxygen, converting carbon-based materials to synthetic fuels, chemical feedstocks, waxes, lubricants, or other substances and solid residues, slag, ash, char, liquid wastes, and/or wastewater.

“Recovered feedstock”:material derived and separated from solid waste, segregated solid waste, recyclable materials, medical, domestic, or construction and demolition (C&D) debris for use as a feedstock or raw material in a high- heat waste facility.

“Solvolysis”: a process through which materials are combined with a solvent and subjected to heat and/or high pressure.

“Treatment”: any method, technique, or process—such as neutralization—designed to alter the physical, chemical, or biological character or composition of solid waste. This includes, but is not limited to, the application of heat, radiation, solvents, salts, acids, alkalis, catalysts, and other chemical agents.

Section 2: Prohibition on New High-Heat Waste Facilities

Notwithstanding any other law, rule, or regulation to the contrary, no permit or license shall be issued for the construction or operation of a new high-heat waste facility or incineration facility, and no application for a permit or license for such a facility shall be granted or issued by the town for a period of twelve months.

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TO THE BOARD OF SELECTMEN:

We, the undersigned, qualified voters of the Town of Templeton request the subject above be acted upon at a Special Town Meeting, date TBD.

Sign this petition to tell Templeton Town Administrator Adam Lamontagne to STOP the plastic waste incineration plant coming into Templeton.

Click the link below to go to the petition!

https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/preserve-and-protect-templeton?source=direct_link&

Or fill out the petition below. You will get a confirmation email either way.

https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/preserve-and-protect-templeton?source=direct_link&

Click to go to petition web page if you want to read full text of petition.

https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/stop-plastic-burning-facilities-from-harming-frontline-communities-and-our-environment-2 Click to go to web page if you want to read full text of petition.

• Here are more ways to take action to stop proposed plastics incineration plant in the middle of Baldwinville!

• Call (978) 894-2755 or write alamontagne@templetonma.gov Adam Lamontagne and ask what’s the hold up?! Ask him to offer written assurance that the town is on track to foreclose, reassuring the towns people they can get a good nights’ rest not worrying about the heartache a waste plastic incinerator will bring. ASK FOR A TOWN-WIDE INFORMATIONAL MEETING; the community should be involved. No secret deals!

• Let your local & state decision makers know YOU do not want hundreds of tons of plastic waste per day chemically processed in town. Urge them to bring safe AND healthy jobs to our area instead! Click here for contacts.

• Join your neighbors being involved in Templeton Community Against Toxic Waste.

• Sign national petitions against polluters: https://www.momscleanairforce.org/petitions/

• Learn about the plant: https://www.beyondplastics.org/fact-sheets/chemical-recycling

• And: https://www.ehn.org/what-is-chemical-recycling-2667366790.html

Architect’s rendering proposed Petrochemical plastics facility in Point Township PA. - which was stopped.

“This project threatened the region’s clean air and water and would have harmed our way of life in the area, especially for the people who live next to the proposed facility,” said Sandy Field, member of the local residents group Save Our Susquehanna.

“Community members stood up and spoke out about these unacceptable risks, and Save our Susquehanna is thrilled that Encina will not be building their toxic chemical plant in our area. But we do not wish this plant on others, and we will continue to warn other communities about chemical recycling and the danger it poses to communities." https://paenvironmentdaily.blogspot.com/2024/04/encina-announces-chemical-plastics.htm

“The message is clear: we’re ready for good jobs and smart development, but not if it poisons our people or our river. The folks who spoke up against the toxic chemical plant — farmers, doctors, teachers, veterans, small business owners, engineers, faith leaders, and more — deserve a pat on the back,” said Bucknell professor Andrew Stuhl, of Lewisburg. “They carefully weighed Encina’s billion-dollar promises and glitzy PR tactics against the undeniable fact that their facility would jeopardize the health of our communities.” https://www.dailyitem.com/news/encina-moving-away-from-point-township-plant/article_3f8d62ce-fdbe-11ee-961b-876c69af1b50.amp.html#