East Boston Residents Protest Controversial Electrical Substation Project

East Boston community members are protesting an electrical substation project that's been in the works for years.

Eversource wants to build the substation in a flood-prone area near Chelsea Creek, across the street from a popular playground and near tanks of jet fuel for Logan Airport. While the utility says the project poses little risk to the public, local residents worry it could catch fire and explode.

And there's another complication: many of the residents in this densely populated community who would be affected by the project speak Spanish as their first language, and have complained that the Department of Public Utilities and the Energy Facilities Siting Board — the two state bodies charged with permitting the project — have failed to make the siting process accessible for them to participate.

We talk about this microcosm of environmental justice with WBUR's Miriam Wasser and Roseann Bongiovanni, executive director of the environmental nonprofit Greenroots Chelsea.