BEACON HILL BEAT
APRIL 2008
SENATOR PETRUCCELLI & REP. KAPRIELIAN NAMED MWRA ADVISORY BOARD’S LEGISLATORS OF THE YEAR
The MWRA Advisory Board presented Senator Anthony Petruccelli (D-East Boston) and Representative Rachael Kaprielian (D-Watertown) with its Legislators of the Year Award recognizing their strong advocacy on behalf of MWRA communities, and specifically for their support of the Commonwealth Sewer Rate Relief Fund. The Rate Relief Fund is an important line-item in the state budget which assists municipalities throughout the state, not just the MWRA district, by providing local aid to help stabilize local sewer rates.
The Rate Relief Fund, created in 1994 by the legislature and Governor Bill Weld to mitigate sewer rate increases due to debt service obligations for sewer projects, was once funded at $61 Million, but drastically reduced after 9/11. UCANE, along with a coalition of environmental and municipal groups, has been advocating for increases in this line item. Last year $23 Million was included in the state budget for Rate Relief.
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LEGISLATIVE LEADERS DRAFTING REVISED REGULATIONS FOR POLICE DETAILS ON CONSTRUCTION SITES
Governor Deval Patrick, House Speaker Sal DiMasi (D-Boston), and Senate President Therese Murray (D-Plymouth) announced that they would draft new regulations to encourage state agencies and municipalities to utilize flagmen/women for low-risk construction sites, such as secondary and dead-end streets, and those areas with minimal traffic. The proposal is expected to save the state $5 million annually. This proposal is part of a larger transportation reform effort to improve performance measurements and accountability, enhance construction processes, and establish maintenance and fiscal impact measures.
Other provisions in the reform proposal include:
- Requiring Mass. Turnpike Authority to evaluate automated toll collection and to adopt an electronic tolling system
- Require MassHighway to build in long-term maintenance costs for proposed projects
- Include maintenance as a condition of state bonds and establish a separate fund to support maintenance costs
- Require MBTA to reform employee retirement options
- Establish uniform prequalification requirements for contractors
- Determine expedited projects for FY 2008 to clear MassHighway’s backlog
- Support funding for structurally deficient bridges.
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$89 MILLION SUPPLEMENTAL BUDGET PASSED TO PAY FOR SNOW PLOWING
The legislature passed, and the Governor signed, an $89 million Supplemental Budget which includes funding to pay snow and ice removal contractors across the state, and to address a shortfall facing regional transit authorities. The bill includes $67.5 million to pay for snow and ice removal by the Massachusetts Highway Department and the Department of Conservation and Recreation. Increased costs for fuel and salt and increased snowfall contributed to the additional costs incurred by the state and by contractors. According to the Executive Office of Transportation, this winter was the second most expensive snow and ice removal year, slightly behind 2005. The supplemental budget also includes an additional $6 million to address a shortfall facing Regional Transit Authorities.
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GOVERNOR PETITIONS EPA FOR
WASTEWATER “NO DISCHARGE AREA”
OFF COASTAL WATERS
Governor Patrick submitted a request to the EPA to prohibit the discharge of all sewage, including treated wastewater, from boats off the coastal waters of Scituate, Marshfield, and Cohasset. If approved, the designated No Discharge Area (NDA) would be the ninth coastal water zone in the state. NDAs already protect the coastal waters of Plymouth, Kingston, Duxbury, Harwich, Buzzards Bay and Waquoit Bay in Falmouth, Three Bays/Centerville Harbor in Barnstable, Chatham’s Stage Harbor, Wellfleet Harbor, and coastal waters off Nantucket from Muskeget Island to Great Point. The Governor’s goal is to ultimately make all Massachusetts’ coastal waters NDAs. This will provide additional protection to waterways and improve water quality, and protect coastal resources, including shell-fish areas, eelgrass beds, and dozens of recreational beaches.
NDAs protect water quality and aquatic life from pathogens, nutrients, and chemical products contained in discharged sewage. NDAs can also impede the growth of harmful algae which occurs due to high nutrient levels in sewage discharge. Under the Clean Water Act, a body of water can be designated an as NDA if local, state, and federal authorities determine that the area is ecologically and recreationally important enough to merit protection above and beyond that provided by existing state and federal laws.
In Massachusetts, NDAs are part of a comprehensive regional pollution abatement approach which includes wastewater management through local sewering initiatives, stormwater mitigation, and low impact development strategies. Related efforts to authorize NDAs are currently underway for Salem Sound, Cape Cod Bay, and Boston Harbor.
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UCANE SAFETY COMMITTEE REVIEWS NEW
EXCAVATION & TRENCH SAFETY REGULATIONS
The UCANE Safety Committee met with a representative of the Division of Occupational Safety (DOS), to discuss the state’s new standards to prevent unauthorized access to unattended trenches. The regulation, Excavation and Trench Safety: 520 CMR 14.00 (also referred to as Jackie’s Law) covers a variety of new regulations for both excavators and municipalities to follow. The three major components of the regulations are:
- Requiring excavators to obtain a permit prior to digging a trench
- Establishes standards for securing a trench when it is unattended
- Establishes fines for excavators who fail to adhere to the regulations.
The DOS and the Department of Public Safety (which will oversee the new regulation) will not enforce the regulations until January 1, 2009.
Click here for a copy of the Excavation and Trench Safety regulations.
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~ Federal Level ~
HOUSE MEMBERS REQUEST $2 BILLION FOR CLEAN WATER STATE REVOLVING LOAN FUND (SRF)
A bipartisan group of House members organized by the Northeast Midwest Congressional Coalition requested funding the Clean Water State Revolving Loan Fund (SRF) program at $2 Billion and the Drinking Water SRF at $1 Billion in the FY 2009 federal budget. The letter, sent to the Chairman of the Appropriation’s Subcommittee on Interior, Environment and Related Agencies Norman Dicks (D-WA) was signed by Democrats and Republicans, including the Chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee James Oberstar (D-MN) and Massachusetts Congressmen James McGovern, Michael Capuano, and Edward Markey. The letter references the EPA’s documented need of $202.5 billion over a 20-year period to address the nation’s wastewater needs, and notes that for every billion dollars invested in water and wastewater infrastructure construction over 40,000 jobs are created.
UCANE has contacted the staff of Appropriations Committee member Congressman John Olver’s (D-MA) office and the entire Massachusetts delegation about the importance of this program.
On May 20th and 21st, UCANE members will join other members of our national affiliate the Clean Water Construction Coalition (CWCC) to meet with our legislators in Washington DC on the importance of wastewater and drinking water infrastructure funding.
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EPA ANNOUNCES $5.4 MILLION IN GRANT FUNDING TO REDUCE DIESEL EMISSIONS
EPA announced the availability of $5.4 million in grants and innovative financing to reduce diesel emissions and improve public health in EPA Regions 1 and 2. The EPA issued the 2008 Northeast Diesel Collaborative Emissions Reduction Request for Proposals from regional, state and local governments, federally recognized tribes, port authorities, environmental organizations, colleges and universities, hospitals, and others interested in establishing innovative
projects to reduce diesel emissions in their communities.
The deadline for submitting proposals is 6:00 PM on June 12, 2008.
More information on this grant can be found at Northeast Diesel Collaborative website: http://www.northeastdiesel.org/funding.htm
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