GREENFIELD -- The state may have erred in not providing for Greenfield's proposed wood-burning generating plant to be subject to enhanced public participation efforts as part of an 8-year-old state Environmental Justice Policy, according to a state representative candidate.

The policy, enacted in 2002, mandates additional steps for large projects near populations meeting median income and other specific criteria, said Second Franklin District candidate Lee Chauvette in a press statement released this week.

Chauvette, one of four Democrats running in the Sept. 14 primary, urged town officials to look into whether the state provided enough opportunities for residents living in a specific target area bounded by the north and east ends by Pierce and High streets and in the north and west by where Conway Street crosses Interstate 91 to learn about and have input on the project.

But a spokeswoman for the state Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs says additional steps were taken in the process to provide for additional involvement by people from the qualifying neighborhoods.

Chauvette has written to the Greenfield mayor's office, Town Council and zoning, planning and health boards in case they want to look into the issue.

The policy states that for any project that exceeds Environmental Notification Form thresholds for air quality impacts and is within five miles of a designated neighborhood, additional participation provisions must be provided by the state. Also, any project exceeding the ENF threshold and is within one mile for air, solid waste and hazardous waste is mandated to have the additional provisions.

Projects under review for the Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act where there is an environmental justice population within one mile of air emissions are also required to have an enhanced analysis of impacts and mitigation, according to the 2002 policy.

Although the Greenfield project met the threshold under MEPA for a notification form, a full Environmental Impact Report was not required by the state something Chauvette and many opponents of the project question.

Downtown Turners Falls, which is also a qualifying area designated by the state, is even closer to the site of the proposed 47-megawatt biomass plant near the Greenfield Industrial Park. But Chauvette says he did not raise the issue with Montague town officials because it is not one of the six towns in the House district he seeks to represent.

State Energy and Environmental Affairs spokeswoman Lisa Capone said the policy applied because the site is within a mile of a designated community in Turners Falls and exceeds MEPA air quality thresholds, but since the project did not require an Environmental Impact Report, only the enhanced public participation aspects were applicable.

She added that a review of public comments on the project's Environmental Notification Form that were filed with the environmental agency shows none that expressly raised the Environmental Justice Policy.

According to project proponents, the enhanced involvement included circulating the detailed Environmental Notification Form to libraries in Greenfield and Montague, establishing a website that includes that material and a public meeting.

Chauvette, who recently issued a statement outlining his opposition to the proposed Pioneer Renewable Energy project, emphasized that he is not saying the state's review was improper, but is pointing it out to town officials to see if it should have played a role in the state's review.

"I'm questioning if the (environmental review) project that was done mirrored the requirements of the environmental justice program, because of the fact Greenfield has that population within five miles of air emissions. I didn't see any mention of it anywhere."

An environmental manager at Munksjo Paper Inc. in Fitchburg, Chauvette said he first learned about the policy when looking into using biomass technology as a way to reopen the facility, which closed more than a year ago.

The state policy is triggered when a neighborhood's median household income is 65 percent or less than the statewide average, or when at least one-quarter of the residents are minority, foreign born or not proficient in English.

Among the methods prescribed to enhance public participation are scheduling public meetings at convenient locations and times as well as helping the neighborhood's population with questions about environmental regulations.