BEACON HILL BEAT
September 2007
TSONGAS WILL FACE OGONOWSKI IN CONGRESSIONAL RACE
TO REPLACE MARTY MEEHAN
Niki Tsongas defeated four Democratic candidates to win the Fifth Congressional District primary to replace Marty Meehan in Washington DC. Tsongas, the wife of the late United States Senator and Presidential candidate Paul Tsongas, will face Republican Jim Ogonowski, brother of John Ogonowski, the pilot of America Airlines Flight 11 which was hijacked during the September 11, 2001 attacks, in the general election. Also on the ballot will be Independent candidates Patrick Murphy and Kurt Hayes along with Constitution Party candidate Kevin Thompson.
For the past 10 years Tsongas was Dean of External Affairs at Middlesex Community College. Ogonowski has been a farmer and has served 28 years as an Air Force Lieutenant Colonel. This is the first campaign for all the candidates. Meehan, who held the Congressional seat for 14 years, stepped down in March to become chancellor of the University of Massachusetts at Lowell. Massachusetts’ Fifth Congressional District consists of the communities of Acton, Andover, Ayer, Berlin, Billerica, Bolton, Boxborough, Carlisle, Chelmsford, Concord, Dracut, Dunstable, Groton, Harvard, Haverhill, Hudson, Lancaster, Lawrence, Littleton, Lowell, Maynard, Methuen, Shirley, Stow, Sudbury, Tewsbury, Tyngsboro, Wayland, and Westford.
SENATOR HAVERN STEPS DOWN TO BECOME PRESIDENT OF ML STRATEGIES
State Senator Robert Havern (D-Arlington), Assistant Majority Whip of the Senate, announced that he will depart the Senate and become President of the Government Relations Division of ML Strategies, the lobbying arm of the law firm Mintz Levin. The ten term Senator has served in many leadership roles on Beacon Hill, including Chair of the Transportation Committee and has been an advocate for the Commonwealth Sewer Rate Relief Fund. UCANE worked with Senator Havern during the recent budget deliberations to push an amendment to increase Rate Relief.
Several candidates are expected to run for the open 4th Middlesex Senate Seat including State Representatives James Marzilli (D-Arlington), Charles Murphy (D-Burlington), Jay Kaufman (D-Lexington), and Patrick Natale (D-Woburn).
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EOEEA & DEP ANNOUNCE FUNDS TO TARGET NON-POINT SOURCE WATER POLLUTION
The Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EOEEA) in conjunction with the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) will fund eleven projects totaling nearly $2.2 million as part of the federal FY 2008 Section 319 Non-point Source Competitive Grant Program. The grant program focuses on implementing measures to control non-point sources (NPS) of water pollution, which is caused by conditions which are normally associated with precipitation and stormwater runoff or infiltration into the soil. Common types of NPS pollution include phosphorus and nitrogen from lawn and garden fertilizers, bacteria from pet waste and waterfowl, oil and grease from parking lots and roadways, and sediment from construction and soil erosion.
The projects will help to protect Massachusetts' water resources by restoring and preserving watershed areas, constructing stormwater treatment systems, demonstrating innovative technologies, and educating the public on how to protect sensitive natural resources. Recipients include municipalities, county governments, planning commissioners, watershed and conservation groups, and private developers. The projects approved are located in Plymouth, Leominster, Holland, Franklin, Sandwich, Ashland, Cohasset, Roxbury/Jamaica Plain, Pittsfield, and Groton. Each project was reviewed and approved by DEP's regional staff, the DEP/EOEEA Proposal Review Committee, and the federal EPA. Funding for the projects, totaling $2,177,131, will be available this fall. The eleven projects are listed below.
Operation and Maintenance of the Massachusetts Alternative Septic System Test Center with Evaluation of Alternative Leaching Systems
Project Applicant: Barnstable County Dept. of Health and the Environment
EOEEA Watershed: Statewide
319 funding: $105,781 Project total: $210,531
Improving Water Quality in the Hamilton Reservoir Watershed, Holland
Project Applicant: Pioneer Valley Planning Commission
EOEEA Watershed: French & Quinebaug
319 funding: $228,450 Project total: $380,380
Eel River Headwaters Restoration, Plymouth
Project Applicant: Plymouth DPW
EOEEA Watershed: South Coastal
319 funding: $400,000 Project total: $666,667
Rockwell Pond Source Reduction Pilot Project, Leominster
Project Applicant: Massachusetts Watershed Coalition
EOEEA Watershed: Nashua
319 funding: $205,050 Project total: $429,250
Jackson Square Low Impact Development (LID) Program, Roxbury/Jamaica Plain
Project Applicant: Jackson Square Partners LLC
EOEEA Watershed: Charles
319 funding: $200,000 Project total: $350,000
Mill Creek Estuary Stormwater Mitigation, Sandwich
Project Applicant: Town of Sandwich
EOEEA Watershed: Cape Cod
319 funding: $255,300 Project total: $425,518
Franklin Stormwater Retrofit Improvement Project, Franklin
Project Applicant: Town of Franklin
EOEEA Watershed: Charles
319 funding: $131,000 Project total: $229,762
James Brook Urban Stormwater Improvements, Groton
Project Applicant: Town of Groton
EOEEA Watershed: Nashua
319 funding: $134,350 Project total: $223,910
Stormwater BMP Implementation for Little Harbor, Cohasset
Project Applicant: Town of Cohasset
EOEEA Watershed: South Coastal
319 funding: $150,000 Project total: $250,000
Lake Waushakum LID BMP Implementation Project, Ashland
Project Applicant: Town of Ashland
EOEEA Watershed: Concord (SuAsCo)
319 funding: $98,500 Project total: $163,890
Onota Lake Preservation Project, Pittsfield
Project Applicant: City of Pittsfield
EOEEA Watershed: Housatonic
319 funding: $268,700 Project total: $456,20
~ Federal Level ~
UCANE MEETS WITH EPA TO DISCUSS SRF & SUSTAINABLE INFRASTRUCTURE
A delegation of UCANE members met with Region 1 EPA staff to discuss a variety of issues affecting the underground construction industry. Earlier this summer, UCANE staff attended EPA’s conference on Sustainable Infrastructure in Groton, CT. The outcome was that EPA has developed four action items to implement their initiative:
- Promote public outreach and communication on Sustainable Water Infrastructure
- Institutionalize Sustainable Infrastructure concepts through State Revolving Loan Fund (SRF) programs
- Explore opportunities to promote regionalized approaches to Sustainable Infrastructure
- Find opportunities for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy
UCANE has encouraged EPA to include operation and maintenance funding and to further promote the use of the SRF. Federal funding for the Clean Water SRF program was also discussed along with EPA’s policies on air quality as it effects the construction industry. UCANE has been monitoring California’s new Diesel Retrofit Program rules on air quality for off-road vehicles, which is a stricter standard than federal regulations.
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SRF ARBITRAGE BILL (S. 1910) FILED IN WASHINGTON DC
Senators Jack Reed (D-RI) and Olympia Snowe (R-ME), filed the Clean and Safe Drinking Water Arbitrage Relief Act, S. 1910. This bill would allow states to keep arbitrage earnings from SRF leveraged funds to pay for vital water infrastructure projects.
What is Arbitrage?
States can make direct SRF loans to communities for water infrastructure projects. They also can leverage SRF funds to expand investments. Leveraging means that states can use the federal capitalization grants, as well as their state matching share, as collateral to borrow in the public bond market. This allows a state to increase the funds available for local projects.
States use SRF dollars as security, or a source of revenue, for the payment of principal and interest on revenue bonds (debt), so long as the bond proceeds are deposited back into the SRF. States that issue tax-exempt bonds to leverage their SRF programs are subject to a complex set of arbitrage restrictions which are defined in the Internal Revenue Code and are designed to prevent issuers of tax-exempt bonds from retaining any interest earnings that exceed the interest cost of the bonds (i.e., arbitrage earnings).
Current law requires a state to rebate the arbitrage earnings to the Treasury rather than allowing the state to reinvest the funds in water infrastructure projects.
By allowing states to keep the interest they make on SRF bonds, a greater amount of money is available for each state’s critical clean water and drinking water infrastructure projects. In Massachusetts’ case, because we leverage our SRF loans at a 3-1 ratio, this would mean millions of dollars to fund additional projects.
UCANE is working with our national affiliate the Clean Water Construction Coalition (CWCC) to promote this bill.
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