September 12, 2010
By Chris Burrell, Boston Globe

A group of East Boston and Chelsea residents is battling the city over the future of seven acres of dilapidated land on Chelsea Creek and rallying support for its hope of returning the former fuel tank farm to a pristine wetlands.

But it faces a formidable obstacle in the Boston Redevelopment Authority, which is moving ahead with plans to convert the seven-acre riverfront parcel into an industrial park for green companies.

The city says it is also planning some marsh restoration in the area, but the neighborhood group says it is not enough. And with a deadline looming, the Chelsea Creek Action Group is trying to drum up neighborhood support, plotting protests at City Hall and attempting to win official desgination of the site as wetlands, which could protect it from development.

‘‘There’s a battle going on for the site right now,’’ Eugene Benson, an environmental lawyer for the Chelsea Creek Action Group, told a gathering of people last month in East Boston. ‘‘It will either be a wonderful wetland or, if the city and the BRA get their way, it’s going to be an industrial site.’’

Read full article...