Residents Ask City to Keep Gasification Plants Out of Attleboro [VIDEO]

A group of Attleboro residents have asked the Attleboro City Council to consider changing language in zoning laws to stop companies like Boston-based Ze-gen from ever calling Attleboro their home. Ze-gen announced last month that it will no longer continue its plans to open a plant in Attleboro.

Charlie Adler and George Morin, members of Attleboro Residents with Important Safety Concerns (@RISC), went before the council Tuesday night to express concern for what they consider loopholes in Attleboro's zoning laws and ask for an amendment to the law. 

City Councilor Duff White, who has been at each of Ze-gen's public hearings before the city's Conservation Commission, introduced an amendment to the existing zoning laws which would ultimately prevent a company from labeling its business, process or technology such a way that would bypass the existing zoning laws. 

"Right now, we are sitting here, and tomorrow morning there may be a facility come in and apply for the exact same use over there," White said. "This is an attempt, a very simple attempt, to close that door."

"Councilor White has been with us since our first meeting a year ago," Adler said. "He has devoted a lot of time to studying Ze-gen's gasification technology, and this knowledge will serve him well as the council debates the pros and cons of the proposed zoning amendment."

Councilors William Bergevine, Peter Blais, Brian Kirby and Walter Thibodeau all co-sponsored the amendment.