In a victory for environmental protesters, a proposed battery facility near Greenfield will not be built. On August 6 the battery corporation made the announcement. The facility would have been in Wendell, Massachusetts. Wendell borders Montague, which borders Greenfield.

On April 20, 2024 bicyclists joined the Solar Rollers River Ride near
Greenfield from the Great Falls Discovery Center to Unity Park.
Kayakers and canoeists arrived at the Riverview Picnic area for a
rally. Walkers joined a march. There was music and there were speakers
from the Connecticut River Defenders, No Assault & Batteries in
Wendell, and Shutesbury Smart Solar, calling for No False Climate
Solutions.

Al Norman has lived in Greenfield for decades. He led a successful
movement to keep Walmart out of Greenfield. He runs a group that has a
web site at https://sprawl-busters.com. On February 28, 2024, Norman
told the Valley Post he was part of an effort to keep a proposed giant
lithium battery out of Wendell.

The English translation of the book “Slow Down” by Japan's Kohei Saito
was published this year, and was praised by the New York Times. It
says, on page 47, to make lithium batteries for electric cars and other uses, mines in Chile cause "rapid drainage of groundwater which is causing shortages in the fresh water accessible to the residents of
the area."

A better solution for climate change than electric cars is described
in the Venn diagram at:

www.biologicaldiversity.org/programs/population_and_sustainability/climate/

********

In Greenfield, about 50 people marched for peace on August 6, a spokesperson for the group that organized the march told the Valley Post. The group has a web site at www.traprock.org.

**********

Earlier this month, a land trust saved 387 acres of open space in the Pioneer Valley towns of Southampton, Westhampton and Montgomery. The land trust has a web site at www.KestrelTrust.org. Southampton Open Space Committee Chair Cindy Palmer helped make the deal happen. She did not immediately reply to an email seeking comment for this article.

*********

In Brattleboro, the Home Depot and its huge parking lot have been vacant for 16 years. On August 6, the New York Times published an article about vacant big box stores in New York City. The article says, in part, “Most of the pharmacies that have closed in recent years were signed to 10-, 15- or even 20-year leases, at rents that often exceed today’s rates, brokers said. In these cases, a landlord has almost no incentive to seek a new tenant, allowing the store to sit empty for months or years, said Aric Trakhtenberg, an associate director at Newmark, a real estate firm. For the landlord, 'it doesn’t make sense to make a deal,' Mr. Trakhtenberg said. That puts property owners’ interests at odds with the city’s recovery, said Jonathan Bowles, the executive director of the Center for an Urban Future. 'There’s a market failure here,' and it is hurting foot traffic in recovering retail corridors, he said.”

On August 6, Brattleboro's town manager told the Valley Post, “I will pass (the Times article) along to the Planning Department which is working on a vacant building ordinance expected to come back to the Selectboard in September.”