Special permit not required for Pilgrim Station dry cask storage
PLYMOUTH — The Zoning Board of Appeals will not reverse a decision to grant Pilgrim-owner Entergy an unconditioned permit to build dry-cask storage at its Rocky Hill Road facility.
The appeal by residents who would like to see greater oversight of the project took two nights and nearly seven hours of testimony, but in the end, a majority of the board felt that Building Inspector Paul McAuliffe’s original decision was reasonable.
It would have taken a super majority (four of five members) of the board to overturn the initial decision. Board members Bill Keohan and Michael Main voted for reversal.
Early in the hearing it was difficult to discern which way the board was leaning. And with counsel for both sides disagreeing on just about every aspect of state law and how to interpret local regulations, it seemed the board would have find a Solomonesque solution.
This past Wednesday night though – the second night of the hearing – the board appeared to be offered a path around the legal arguments: permission to come up with its own interpretation.
