Council votes their conscience

Reb MacKenzie and Jim Contois
ACTS Now
Claremont
Mayor Lovett and City Councilors, 

“Cowardice asks the question… is it safe? Expediency asks the question… is it politic? Vanity asks the question… is it popular? But conscience asks the question … is it right? And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but one must take it because it is right.” Martin Luther King, Jr.

Those concerned citizens of Claremont whom you heard and represented tonight to make a decision based on your conscience and your egalitarian desire to create a healthy and vibrant community for all of New Hampshire’s citizens very much appreciate your decision to unanimously sustain the veto of SB 365 and override the veto of SB 446.

Thank you for standing up to the pressures of the lobbyists and those who are in this for selfish gain who have a powerful voice. I hope and pray that this vote will unfold at the state level as it did tonight in Claremont and that it will motivate our legislators to look at the challenging economic issues of our North Country families and friends and develop real, sustainable economic solutions for our northern neighbors. Additionally, we need to look to the future, as Mayor Charlene Lovett so eloquently stated tonight, with our energy needs. These responses will pave the way for that as our legislators follow your lead.

We also applaud your decision to not support a subsidy for the incineration of residuals in the Penacook Wheelabrator plant. We in Claremont have been working hard to mitigate the damage caused by lead in our community.

The amount of lead reported by that Wheelabrator facility last year is unconscionable: 80+ pounds from just one of the two boilers in 2017! As someone said tonight, lead is dangerous when emitted in micrograms. How can anyone support the Wheelabrator plant which emits such high amounts of neuro-toxins such as lead, and other carcinogenic substances like cadmium, mercury, and deadly dioxins, to name a few.

With deep appreciation,

Reb MacKenzie and Jim Contois 

ACTS Now

Claremont