HealthLink Chronology (listed by activity) Highlights

1997 - present - Our participation led to landmark Massachusetts air regulations in 2001, limiting NOx, SOx, Mercury and CO₂. As the only community watchdog group, we are giving DEP the starch to hang tough with the industry. We continue to send testimony by letter or in person regularly at governmental hearings and are relied upon by our allies to show up and speak out.

HEARINGS AND MEETINGS

June 2007 - Present - HealthLink's Jane Bright sits on Governor's Air Permitting Streamlining Project.

2006 - Present - Healthlink volunteers testify at various hearings relevant to offshore LNG factory projects.

February 2006 - Testified at MA DEP hearing for strict CO2 regulations, Salem.

Dec 2004 - Testified at Army Corps of Engineers hearing on Cape Wind, Boston, MA.

March 2004- Testified at Citizen Hearing on EPA Proposed Power Plant Mercury Regulations, Portsmouth, NH.

Nov 2003- Testified at DEP power plant Mercury regulations public hearing.

Sept 2003 - Coal Ash Bill and Hearings. Worked for responsible disposal.

Sept 2003 - Jane Bright invited to testify at Sen. Jefford's hearing on mercury and power plants in Boston.

Spring 2003 - Meetings with plant workers at Salem Harbor Generating Station to find common ground.

March 2002 - Testified at Army Corps of Engineers hearing on Cape Wind.

Nov 2002 - Lori Ehrlich on Governor's Environmental Transition Team; Oct '03 on DEP Advisory Council.

Spring 2002 - Shareholder resolution demanding PG&E corporate responsibility got a respectable 9% vote.

Feb 2000 - present - Joined CLF's suit resulting in legal agreement that PG&E remediate wastewater storage.

July 2000 - DEP hearing on NOx and SOx limits. HealthLink brought largest turnout ever for a DEP hearing.

Spring - Fall 1998 - Negotiations with PG&E (US Gen.)

MEDIA CAMPAIGNS, DEMONSTRATIONS & ACTIVISM

2002-Present: Weekly Wednesday activist meetings. Open to all who wish to bring energies to the HealthLink agenda. Working with local communities to install renewable energy; heightening awareness on safer substitutes for toxins; following coal mining issues in Colombia and Appalacia; reaching out to students, community members to reduce dependence on fossil fuels.

Aug 2007 - Produced a short video illustrating the renewable energy poster project installed on the Blue Line with interviews highlighting sentiment and discussing local RE installations.

Aug - Sept 2007: Installed renewable energy message series on the Blue Line to inform commuters about true cost of fossil fuels. Launched poster series with demonstration, literature, at Wonderland.

July - 2007: Installed 5 Renewable Energy Billboards in Essex County:  Rt 1 Salisbury, Wyoma Sq Lynn, 1A Revere, 1A Beverly, and Rt 1 Topsfield near the fairground. Received press coverage.

June 2007: Beach Bluff Park Wall Raising/Global Warming Awareness Event, Beach Bluff Park, Swampscott.

Apr 2007: Dominion (owners of Salem Power Plant) Annual Meeting - Protest and rally for clean up of CO2 emissions. HealthLink represented shareholders at Annual Meeting at Intercontinental Hotel, Boston. Spoke out at Annual Meeting for corporate responsibility re vendors in Colombia, held vote on diversification to renewables. Held stakeholders' rally outside, in rain, in support of both issues.

Mar 2007: HealthLink invited by Whole Foods Market in Swampscott to table clean energy information.

Nov 2006: Solar Now: Energy Harvest Festival, Beverly, Wind Wigglers and info.

Nov 2006: Who Killed the Electric Car & An Inconvenient Truth, Salem Cinema. tabled info before and after showings.

Sep 2006: HL and Alliance for a Healthy Tomorrow celebrated the passage of the Mercury Products bill with Representative Doug Petersen.

July 2006: Green Car Festival, Ipswich Town Hall. Cosponsored and tabled info.

Nov 2003-present - Pesticide Awareness Campaign. initiated the successful campaign to dissolve the toxic partnership between US Youth Soccer and a large pesticide company.

April 2002 - Washington DC with "Grandfathers against Grandfathering" petition. Met regulatory officials with neighbors of refineries. Held rally for Clean Air at Lincoln Memorial, pictured in Time magazine.

June 2001 - Greenpeace's Rainbow Warrior visited Salem. HealthLink delivered demand letter to PG&E. Greenpeace activists climbed coal pile with signs "Global Warming Starts Here" and made national news.

April 2000 - Attended, spoke out at PG&E's Annual Meeting. Held Stakeholders' rally in support of regulations.

Spring 2000 - Dead Bodies demonstration at PG&E offices illustrated Harvard's study on effects of power plant pollution.

June 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004 - Take a Stand for Prevention at Salem Harbor Station to inform public.

Spring 1998, 1999 - Leafleted A Civil Action & Erin Brockovich to activate public for clean air regulations.

SPONSORED INFORMATIONAL PUBLIC FORUMS AND PRESENTATIONS

Oct 2007 - Essex County Renewable Energy Roundtable, Peabody.

Sept 2007 - Ocean Power and Clean Energy Forum, with Safer Waters in MA and Ocean Conservancy. 

Apr 2007- Healthy Home Party with AHT's presentation on less toxic household products for our children, homes, gardens and personal care.

Mar 2007- NESEA Conf - Building Energy for a Changing Climate, Seaport World Trade Center, Boston. HL's Jane Bright presenting "Health Impacts of Fossil Fuel".

Dec 2006 - HealthLink Awards Night. Salem Mayor Kim Driscoll - commitment to renewable sustainable energy. Swampscott Board of Health member Larry Block - mercury warnings in fish at point of sale. Marblehead's inventor Jim Poss - Big Belly solar trash compactor.

Nov 2006 - Gloucester Clean Energy Fair, Gloucester High School, Wind Wiggler Workshop.

Nov 2006 - Slide show: The True Cost of Coal: Salem's Connection to the People of Columbia,  Salem.

Oct 2006 - Reaching out for Renewable Energy, Topsfield Fair. Hosted 3-day info table - engaged the fairgoers in dialogue, gave out compact fluorescent lightbulbs and info on clean renewable energy.

Sep 2006- Film showing: One in Eight: Janice's Journey, Salem. A personal  journey with breast cancer

Sep 2006 - Film showing - Renewable Energy: Modern Marvels, Marblehead.

Aug 2006 - NSAIR conclusions, presentation of HealthLink generated report on air quality, toxins and related health issues in communities of Marblehead, Beverly and Salem. HL office.

Aug 2006 - Daytime Wind Wiggler Art Workshop for kids w/adult. HL office, Swampscott.

Aug 2006- Attended Forum: Opportunities for Savings through Energy Efficiency and Renewables, Carlton School, Salem. Sponsored by Congressman John Tierney. 

Aug 2006 - Geothermal Presentation, Swampscott Public Library, 7 pm. 

Aug 2006- Veggie Energy! Presentation on a van to travel from Massachusetts to California, run on vegetable oil. HL office.

July 2006- Film Showing: Too Hot Not to Handle, HBO doc. on Global Warming.

Oct 2005 - Global Warming - What is the Problem? Caring for Creation - Linking Religious Communities to Solutions Forum, Swampscott and Salem.

Sept 2005 -  Air Inventory Review - Presentation of air emission data collected and mapped in Salem, Marblehead and Beverly

Aug 2005 - Wind Power on the North Shore: Possibilities and Realities, Swampscott

June 2005 - Wind Power forum, Lynn

May 2005 - Celebrate the Wind- Wind and Kite Festival with Kites Over New England, Nahant Beach

Jan 2005 - Land-Based, Wind Power for the North Shore, with Metropolitan Area Planning Council and UMass Renewable Energy Lab, Ipswich

Oct 2004 - Global Warming: Local Problems, Local Solutions, speakers: John Anderson, NE Aquarium; Sonia Hamel, MA Director of Air Policy; Bob Tina, Regional Wastewater Facility, site of anemometer; Lynn

April 2004 - Breast Cancer- Our Health and the Environment, with Mass. Breast Cancer Coalition; Salem

March 2004 - Cape Wind -Why Now, speakers:  Marc Rodgers, Communications Director, Cape Wind; Fara Courtney, Coastal Issues Policy Consultant; Salem

Nov 2003 - Healthy Planet - Healthy People: Emerging Energy Technologies: Harnessing Ocean Power, speakers: Greg Watson, MTC; Alla Weinstein, AquaEnergy; Alexander Gorlov, Gorlov Turbine; Lynn

Oct 2003 - Mercury and our Health, supported mercury advisory postings, Swampscott Board of Health

Oct 2003- PetLink: Our Pets - Canaries in the Coal Mine? Lynn shore drive dog walk; speakers:  Rodney Page, DVM, Cornell Univeristy & local vets, Marblehead

Sept 2003 - Healthy Planet - Healthy People: Emerging Energy Technologies: Wind and Solar, speakers: Kevin Knoblock, UCS; Mike Jacobs on Wind Energy; Leslie Grossman on Photovoltaics; Lynn

Jan 2003 - Growing up Healthy in a Toxic World, speakers: Dr. Ted Schettler, Physicians for Social Responsibility; Salem

Nov 2002 - The Environmental Links to Breast Cancer, speaker: Julia Brody, Silent Spring; Salem

Oct 2002 - The Hidden Co$t$ of Coal: From Cradle to Grave; Beverly

July 2002 - Healthy Planet - Healthy People: Global Climate Change, speakers: Ross Gelbspan; EPA's Mandate, Eric Schaeffer, Salem.

Dec 2001 - Wind Energy Forum, UMass Energy Renewables Lab, Cape Wind, others. Marblehead

Dec 2000 - Intro to Renewable Energy,Salem

1998 - 2000 - Salem Harbor Station: Health Impacts. Salem, Swampscott, Marblehead, Lynn, Beverly, Manchester

LINKS TO STUDENTS AND COMMUNITIES

Apr 2008 - Earth Day at Salem State College: Food the Environment and Justice. (Planning)

Nov 2007 - HealthLink Awards to Nikki Stracka - LiveGreen, Marblehead High School Sustainability group; Dave Liscio, Lynn Item Reporter and Adjunct Environmental Professor, Endicott College, Avi Chomsky, local Colombia Solidarity Founder and SSC professor.

Sept 2007 - Swampscott Rotary, presentation on Power Plant and renewable energy.

Oct 2007 - Brookwood School Sustainability Fair, Manchester. Tabled info on renewable energy.

Aug 2007 - Cosponsored delegates' (doctors, student and videographer) travel to Colombia's coal mining region to investigate and take a stand for human rights for the people of the region.

June 2007 - Centerville School Open House: Celebrate Renewable Energy, Beverly. Gave tours of building (wind & solar), Wind Wigglers Workshop, partnered with EnergyTeachers.org and Solar Now.

Apr 2007- AHT Legislative game: How a Bill Becomes Law, Salem

Apr 2007 - Step It Up 2007 - Global Warming Rally, with Marblehead LiveGreen students at Devereux Beach, live bands, kites & speakers.

Apr - Jun 2007 - Wind Wiggler Workshop for Kids & Renewable Energy info table, Bentley School Salem; Carlton School Salem; Nahant Earth Day Fiesta; North Shore Community College Earth Day; Solar Now Beverly; Beach Bluff Park Swampscott.

Apr 2007- Earth Day at Salem State College. Cosponsored our 7th Earth Day event with students and faculty linking a healthy environment through research, art and activism. 

Jan 2006 -  Received Massachusetts Technology Collaborative grant to Reach Out for Renewable Energy in Essex County. 

Apr - Sept 2005 - Wind Wiggler Art Workshop for Kids & Wind Power surveys for adults, Nahant, Swampscott, Marblehead, Beverly, Salem

Apr 2004 - Initiated and sponsored Open House at the Carlton "green" School, Salem

2005 - Developed educational wind power power point presentation. Trained prresentors.

Jan 2005 - Received Massachusetts Technology Collaborative grant to educate local communities and promote initiatives for wind power.

Fall 2003 - Received EPA grant to link the communities of Beverly, Salem and Marblehead in a survey of sources and health consequences of air toxins. Salem State nursing students will review health impacts.

Salem State College - Created Salem State College EARTH DAY - Linking Health and the Environment through Research, Art and Activism. Featured student research projects, speakers and art. Earth Day Award Recipients: 2001- Diane Dumanoski; 2002- Jan Schlichtmann, Governor Jane Swift; 2003 - Ross Gelbspan, Cindy Luppi, 2004- Dr. Jill Stein, Dr. Paul Epstein, 2005 - Congressman Tierney, Veronica Eady; 2006 - Jose Julio Perez, Danny Farber.  2007 - Sustainability and Global Warming theme

Winter 2002 - Working with BU School of Public Health on a 5 years project to make public health studies more useful.

North Shore Community College and local high schools- Introduced Renewable Energy series forums.

Interns - Environment majors from Dartmouth College, Salem State College, local high schools.

SITE VISITS AND PUBLIC TOURS

Green building visits - Carlton School, Salem; Centerville School, Beverly;

Wind turbine visits - Princeton, MA; Hull, MA; Searsburg, VT; Denmark; and Lynn, MA - proposed site.

HEALTHLINK'S WORK HAS SPUN OFF, INITIATED OR SPARKED OTHER NON PROFITS

2005 - Swampscott Renewable Energy Committe

2002 - North Shore Colombia Solidarity. Focusing on human rights issues in coal mines in Columbia, S.A. which provide coal for the Salem Harbor Generating Station.

Sept 2001 - Salem Alliance For the Environment (SAFE). Focusing on reduction of greenhouse gases in Salem.

2000 - Alliance for Healthy Tomorrow Coalition. Founding member, focusing on protection of children's health. www.healthytomorrow.org