Harvard May Outmuscle the State

Ever since the environmental impact statement that gave the Medical Area power plant a clean bill of health was released last spring, Boston Edison has been crying whitewash over the document.

All summer Edison complained about how the statement overlooked construction impacts, lacked examination of the plant's alternatives (including Edison's own facility) and substantially underestimated the amount of fuel oil to be used.

Nobody listened. After a series of hearings on the report, the Boston Redevelopment Authority okayed the plant last month, and Harvard was set to begin construction this December.

But last week somebody finally heard Boston Edison. Somewhere in a clutter of small offices on the 20th floor of the Saltonstall Building in downtown Boston, the secretary of environmental affairs was listening.

For the most part, the few bureaucrats in the office perfunctorily pass on forms--initiating here, tripling copies there, and generally nodding in agreement with Boston's other bureaucratic agencies.

This week was different. The agency decided to cause some trouble--throwing a money-wrench into Harvard's plans by rejecting the impact statement's findings, and insisting that Harvard come through with additional data on many of the points that Edison had contested.

From the looks of things Harvard may have its hands full trying to get all that data, with the projected figures on construction impacts almost impossible to obtain or even predict. The secretary's order will most likely cause at least a few weeks' delay before construction on the plant can begin.

And that is where the state agency may have made its mistake.

The last time a state agency tried to play with the power plant's fire, its directors got serverely burnt. This situation does not appear too different.

When the Massachusetts Housing Finance Agency tried to sabotage Harvard's answer to the energy crisis by threatening to turn off aid to an accompanying housing project, that agency's director had to bear the full wrath of the Univerity. It wasn't long before he capitulated.

The project is too far along for Harvard to let the environmental office stop things now. What appears to be the next logical step is some sort of compromise--an agreement that lets Harvard promise it will come through with the needed data, if it is allowed to move ahead pretty nearly on schedule.

Chances look good for such a deal because Harvard's pollution projections are so low that even if they are half as high as Edison claims they should be, the pollution would still be below allowable state limits.