Revere

Mayor Thomas Ambrosino said the city can save $100,000 a year on street lighting costs by buying new street lamps to replace aging and energy wasting existing ones.

He has City Council permission to begin negotiating with National Grid, a principal regional electricity provider, to buy streetlights and hire a company to maintain the lamps.

Ambrosino told councilors this week that the cost of buying new lights has dropped dramatically in since 2003 when the city received a $935,000 quote for new street lamps.

The latest price estimate is $627,000. In addition, the cost of electricity has spiked from $425,000 in 2003 to $684,000 — a 60 percent hike. Ambrosino thinks buying more efficient equipment can offset rising prices with a savings that could exceed $100,000.

“With this kind of potential savings, it makes sense to pursue this matter further by commencing some real negotiations with National Grid,” the mayor told councilors.

Ambrosino and the council are working to lower municipal power costs even as councilors oppose a source of low-cost power proposed for construction in Chelsea.

EMI Chelsea wants to start building its power plant on land bordered by the Chelsea River, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority commuter rail tracks, the Gulf Oil storage site and a paint manufacturing plant.

The firm wants to start building in December and complete the plant by June 2009.

Councilors voted to oppose the plant’s construction in January after Ward 4 Councilor George Rotondo pointed out it’s proximity to the McKinley, Garfield, Lincoln and Beachmont schools attended by 2,300 students on weekdays.

Rotondo said the plant’s low sulfur content petroleum fuel source poses risks to over 640 local students who have asthma. He said carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide and increased ozone released from burning oil to generate electricity “all contribute as asthmatic triggers.”

The company is filing an environmental study, but Rotondo and his colleagues want the plant’s potential impact on the health of Chelsea and Revere residents studied.

State Rep. Kathi-Anne Reinstein is also opposed to the plant’s construction. She said her concerns about its potential emissions parallel her worries about pollutants released from the RESCO trash facility in Saugus.

Last modified: Tuesday, June 12, 2007 11:57 PM