Action Alert: Oppose The Anti-Wetlands Amendments In The Mass Ready Act
Beacon Hill is moving toward passing the Mass Ready Act with the last-minute addition of "Anti-Wetlands Amendments" that threaten to strip away 54 years of environmental progress. These amendments would preempt local wetlands bylaws for "priority housing" projects, undermining important protections across the Commonwealth. Furthermore, the Act includes a companion amendment that would punish communities that refuse to weaken their local wetlands and stormwater regulations, by all but disqualifying them from receiving state grants under the Act.
While the 1972 Wetlands Protection Act provides a statewide baseline, it has not kept pace with the emerging environmental challenges, including climate change. Today, 220 out of 351 Massachusetts cities and towns have enacted their own local bylaws to close critical regulatory gaps, including:
"No-Build" Zones: Stricter buffer zones that provide essential flood mitigation and resilience against extreme heat.
Vernal Pool Protection: Safeguarding isolated wetlands, intermittent streams, and vernal pools that state law often ignores.
Stormwater Management: Helping towns meet legal stormwater permit obligations and manage nutrient pollution.
The Anti-Wetlands Amendments would undo this progress and roll back the clock by more than half a century.
Building in wetlands and floodplains is not the solution to the housing crisis. If anything, it would make our communities more vulnerable by sacrificing critical buffers against flooding and extreme weather. Local bylaws don't exist to stop smart housing; they exist to prevent poorly planned projects that put people and property at risk.
Please reach out to your State Representative and tell them that maintaining Home Rule and local control over wetlands is a priority that must not be traded away.
Please ask your state representatives to REVERSE the Anti-Wetlands Amendments (Senate Amendments 264 and 267), and support the core mission of the Mass Ready Act without sacrificing our environmental resilience.
Protect Home Rule: Ensure municipalities can continue to enforce standards tailored to their specific flood risks and ecosystems.
Support Resilient Housing: Encourage development that respects "no-build" zones to prevent future flooding disasters for new residents.
Secure Clean Water: Allow towns to maintain the stormwater protections necessary to meet their legal environmental obligations.
The Mass Ready Act represents a transformational investment in our Commonwealth’s future. We support the Act, but we cannot support a "roll back" of the clock that leaves our communities vulnerable.
Thank you for standing up for our wetlands and the safety of our communities!
