The Brayton Point Power Plant is "the largest single source of air pollution in New England and the major source of thermal discharge in Mount Hope Bay, causing the demise of marine life," according to the Boston-based Conservation Law Foundation.

Although located in Somerset, MA, Brayton Point has a major impact on Rhode Island, the group warns: the 10,000 tons of coal burned daily at the plant send sulfur, nitrogen, toxic and carcinogenic soot, and toxic metals including mercury and arsenic, into the air, bringing health risks to people living or working within a 31-mile radius of the plant, nearly all of Rhode Island. A Harvard School of Public Health study attributed 106 premature deaths per year to the plant's air pollution, along with 1,140 emergency room visits and 28,900 asthma attacks per year.

The water taken in by the power plant, nearly a billion gallons a day, is later discharged into Mount Hope Bay at a temperature up to 95ºF. From 1984 to 1996, there was an 87% decline in eight species of finfish in the bay. An updated report last year found that fish, especially white flounder, are increasing in most of southern New England, but are at 'near undetectable levels' in Mount Hope Bay.

The Conservation Law Foundation, with an August grant from The Rhode Island Foundation, is spearheading a campaign for remediation of air and water pollution from the power plant through legal intervention and public education. Their goals are to ensure that air emissions are reduced, marine impacts from thermal discharge are minimized, and groundwater contamination is prevented.

Meanwhile, PG&E National Energy Group, owners of Brayton Point, has issued a five-year environmental improvement plan for the power plant. CLF's Energy Project Director Richard Kennelly elaborates, "What they're proposing is a terrific start, but it's not going to go nearly far enough. It won't adequately clean up the plant. Brayton Point still will be 1000% times dirtier than a modern natural gas power plant."

CLF is collaborating locally with Save the Bay.