In the last week of February, the Massachusetts House quietly and decisively sold out the voters of the commonwealth, along with democracy itself. Did you know about this? There was no coverage in the Gazette until March 6 and only then a brief mention in Beacon Hill Roll Call from the State House News Service. In their column on the energy bill passed by the House (H.5151), they wrote that the bill “eases political barriers to nuclear [power] development by repealing a voter law that placed restrictions on it.” Now that this bill has passed, the Senate will develop its own version.
What are those “political barriers?” From where I sit, they’re common sense and really smart. The wise voters in 1982 wanted some guardrails on a dangerous, toxic energy source. They were very aware of the risks of nuclear power, from increased cancer rates around Yankee Atomic in Rowe, to the near-total meltdown at Three Mile Island and the incompetence and lies of the federal and state governments who struggled to contain it, to widely publicized protests at Seabrook and Vermont Yankee. The massive radiation releases at Chernobyl and Fukushima, along with multiple emergency shutdowns at Pilgrim near Boston, came later and underscored their wisdom.
The law in question is Chapter 503 of the Laws of 1982, the result of a voter initiative that won in every county by a two-thirds majority. Leading up to the statewide referendum in 1982, citizen activists spent countless days educating the public and crafting an initiative that would allow more nuclear power here with some common sense pre-conditions: 1) there should be no storage of lower-level radioactive waste in Massachusetts without environmental reviews and adequate regulatory and emergency preparedness structures; and 2) there had to be a permanent federally licensed place to put the extremely radioactive waste fuel taken out of the reactors. More than 40 years later, there is no such repository. The waste just sits at reactor sites like Pilgrim, Yankee Rowe, Seabrook, and Vermont Yankee.
And how would the repeal of Chapter 503 threaten democracy in Massachusetts? The 1982 law requires that the Legislature certify that the pre-conditions had been met, and then the citizens must have a statewide vote on whether or not they wanted more nuclear power in Massachusetts. The people stated clearly and strongly that they wanted a voice in energy policy when it came to this dangerous technology and its forever-toxic waste.
I repeat: this passed by a two-thirds majority in every county of the state, and in 2026, the House just decided it should be wiped off the books. The only public awareness or education about this came from citizen activists who have no lobbyists, just a determination to alert voters that their democratic rights were being lost. The switchboard for the House Ways and Means Committee was swamped — and these citizens were ignored. Some Representatives tried to stop the repeal of the 1982 law, to no avail.
And the final cherry on the top? H.5151 is advertised as something that will bring down our electric rates. But nuclear power is the most expensive way to generate electricity there is, folks. Using it will not lower our bills. And the widely touted Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) are decidedly not small, plus they’re still on the drawing board. They have no track record of safety or reliable cost parameters, and yes, they will make plenty of radioactive waste. Better to invest in solar, wind, geothermal, etc. — things we can do now to lower carbon emissions — and stop making more radioactive waste with no place to go.
Next stop is the Senate. If you want to hold on to democracy and lower energy bills, call your Senator and say “NO REPEAL.”
Ann Darling is a member of Citizens Awareness Network and lives in Easthampton.