|| The River Current || July 26, 2006 || Issue XXXII || 

The bi-monthly e-newsletter of the Charles River Watershed Association
...bringing our backyard river to your door...

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In this issue:

1)       ACTION ALERT! Click here for an update as of 8/10/06

2)       American Shad fry release

3)       New sites available for monthly monitoring

4)       Upcoming Allston workshop

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1) Action Alert! Call your senator today - Spend two minutes to protect the environment!

Please call your State Senator today, July 26^th, and ask him/her to support Senator Creedon’s amendments to strike Sections 9, 15, 16, and 17. of H. 5207, the expedited permitting bill. (If you can’t call today, please call as soon as you can this week!) If you are not sure who your State Senator is, visit www.wheredoivotema.com.

The bill contains two damaging provisions that will impact the environment and our communities.

Section 16 of the bill establishes a new session of the Land Court with greatly expands the types of cases the Land Court could hear, by authorizing it to decide appeals of municipal and state permits or approvals concerning real property.  This includes environmental permit appeals, which today are heard in Superior Court.  The development community is pushing very hard for this provision claiming it would speed up judicial decision-making.  In fact, it will likely have the opposite effect and further delay decisions because there are only six Land Court judges.  Just as importantly, it is a blatant attempt to stack the deck for developers because it allows any party to “forum shop” and move to transfer cases brought in Superior Court to Land Court in the hope of a more favorable decision.  Clearly the development community wants cases heard in the court they believe will be most sympathetic to their point of view. 

Section 9 of the bill would allow a developer to move forward with a project even if the permit is being appealed.  If construction is allowed to proceed during an appeal, those challenging the permit are very unlikely to obtain meaningful relief even if they win the case, because courts are reluctant to require a building to be torn down.  Even in the unlikely event that a judge orders this, there is no way to undo site work such as clearing, grading and wetlands disturbance - the environmental damage will already be done. This provision would automatically take effect, and does not, contrary to what senators seem to believe, requiring a municipality to adopt it.

Background:

These provisions were initially included in the House version of the expedited permitting bill, but were not included in the Senate version. When the bills went to Conference Committee, these provisions were included in the final Conference Committee report. However, a number of Senators have expressed their concern over the implications of these provisions. We need your help to encourage them to vote against the Conference Committee report.

REMEMBER: It only takes a few phone calls to get a legislator’s attention on an issue. Your phone call TODAY is important! Thank you!

A sample script: 

“I am a constituent of the Senator’s and I am calling to ask that s/he support Senator Creedon’s amendments to the expedited permitting conference report, H. 5207.  The bill contains two sections, Section 9 and 16, that would short circuit the appeals process and discourage citizens from exercising their rights.”  **THEN ASK:  “Can someone call me to confirm that the Senator will be voting for Senator Creedon’s amendments to  H. 5207?"

 

2) Release of 1.8 million American Shad fry in Waltham

More than 1.8 million American Shad fry were released into the Charles River this month! During the last three weeks of July, the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service stocked shad fry into the river at the Woerd Avenue boat launch in Waltham. For the rest of the summer and into the fall, CRWA staff will monitor water quality conditions, to assess the quality of the habitat and potential survival hazards for the juvenile shad. For more information, visit our website at http://www.crwa.org/projects/shad_stocking.html

3) Volunteer to monitor the river’s health

Become a water quality monitoring volunteer and collect river samples once a month - usually the third Tuesday morning.  Currently we need volunteers at sites in Bellingham, Franklin, Millis, Newton, Brighton, and Boston.  If you live in or near these communities and are interested in volunteering, please contact Rebecca Scibek at (781) 788-0007 ext. 200 or via email.

4) Save the date! Building a Blue Allston – III

Urban Low Impact Development Workshop and Community Forum

Monday October 16, 2006, 3-8pm at the Honan Allston Library, Allston MA