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CALENDAR OF EVENTS Advocacy News (Includes how to reach your legislators) DEP Enforcement Actions In The Berkshire |
Water-saving in the north-east -Trees grow in Brooklyn LIKE other post-industrial areas in the city, New York’s Gowanus neighbourhood is getting stylish. But those who venture there after a heavy rainstorm might rethink their plans to buy that loft. When the city’s ageing sewerage system is overwhelmed, untreated storm-water and sewage flood into local waterways, including the Gowanus Canal. The resulting whiff is sure to keep property prices at a level starving Brooklyn artists can afford. New York has a serious sewer problem. The city spills more than 27 billion gallons (102 billion litres) of untreated overflow into its harbour each year, according to Riverkeeper, a local advocacy group. And New York is not alone. Nearly 800 American cities rely on decrepit systems that collect storm-water run-off, industrial waste and human sewage in the same pipes. Usually these pipes take waste water to treatment plants. But any overflow is released into rivers and streams. Time, erosion and increasingly erratic weather have made this a national issue. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the federal body in charge of monitoring water standards, says the country needs to invest $300 billion over the next 20 years to update or replace existing sewer infrastructure. But except for the money for improvements set aside in the 2009 stimulus bill—a not-ungenerous $6 billion—the federal government has left states to their own devices. Some cash-strapped cities have decided to get creative. BEAT Note: Our local cities should follow this example! |
STOP THE DUMPS The General Electric Company has issued its 2010 Corrective Measures Study for the Housatonic River. In it GE lays out several proposals for cleaning the river from Pittsfield south to Woods Pond. The approach GE favors is to do nothing, claiming that the Housatonic is “flourishing” and that a substantial cleanup is nothing more than “destroying a river to clean it” and that “doing “less is more.” GE claims that if they are forced to clean the river they will need to create PCB dumps in the river at Woods Pond in Lenox or alongside the river in Lee and/or Rising Pond in Housatonic. Please urge the EPA to make GE clean the Housatonic of the PCBs they have dumped. Housatonic fish and ducks have some of the highest levels of PCBs ever found in America. But most importantly, even though GE’s website erroneously claims that there are no proven health risks to human beings from exposure to PCBs, the scientific evidence contradicts this claim. In fact, PCBs are extremely toxic to people. Simply avoiding eating fish from the river or not swimming in it will not protect us since PCBs from the river become airborne, so simply by living near the river, inhabitants are exposed to the hazards of PCBs just by breathing. However, even dredging and dumping pose serious risks and various methods for doing these need careful evaluation, as do completely different techniques for handling these toxic substances. Comments may be submitted by mail to: by e-mail to: Susan Svirsky (svirsky.susan@epa.gov) You can read GE’s report at: Here is a sample letter you are welcome to use: To Susan Svirsky, Environmental Protection Agency Rest of River Project Manager: I am writing to you in regards to General Electric’s 2010 Corrective Measures Study. I believe it is inadequate in several important ways. It is important that GE take full responsibility for all its PCB-contamination of the Housatonic River and that it undertake an ecologically-responsible cleanup to remove as much of the contamination as is possible. It is not acceptable to claim that the river is a healthy ecosystem. The fish and wildlife of the River have been poisoned, and people living around the river are exposed to serious health risks. But most importantly I urge the EPA to actively pursue a range of alternative remedial technologies – technologies that may effectively destroy PCBs. We deserve to have a series of pilot projects to see whether any of these new technologies are appropriate to the Rest of River cleanup. Thank you. |
Wetlands Assessment Course at UMass Amherst The UMass Department of Environmental Conservation in cooperation with UMass Extension is offering “Wetlands Assessment and Field Techniques,” a 2-credit course during spring semester at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. The University is offering conservation commissioners and administrators, environmental consultants, agency personnel and other natural resource professionals two options for participating in this course: 1) for two graduate credits through the Department of Environmental Conservation or 2) as a non-credit option through UMass Extension. Course instructors are Scott Jackson and Curt Griffin. Class meets at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst and begins January 20, 2011. This course offers in-depth information about Massachusetts wetland regulations, wetland classification, boundary delineation, wetland condition assessment, functional assessment, vernal pool certification, wildlife habitat evaluation, and techniques for evaluating and mitigating development impacts on wildlife habitat. Class will meet 14 times over a 13 week period during the spring semester. Nine indoor sessions will meet from 7 to 9 pm on Thursday evenings. Five field sessions scheduled later in the semester will meet once a week on Wednesday afternoons (1:25 to 5:30 p.m.). In order to cut down on the need to travel to Amherst an option to participate via live webinar will be available for the nine lecture sessions. The cost for this course is $500 for the non-credit option. For graduate credit the cost is $1,562.50 for MA residents and $2,762.50 for non-residents. Space is limited. For registration or more information, contact: Scott Jackson at (413) 545-4743 or sjackson@umext.umass.edu. |
PVGrows Loan Fund For Food and Agricultural Infrastructure Businesses |
The Carrot Project Receives Award Sharing Lending Knowledge The Carrot Project is equally committed to sharing information with other lenders as it is to making farm loans. In recent months, we participated in a nationwide conversation on how to help communication between lenders and the new generation of farmers. The fruits of our labors is now available Farm Financing in the US. |
ANNOUNCEMENT OF A NEW POSITION AT NOFA/MASS: Metro Boston Education Organizer NOFA/Mass is offering the pilot position of Metro Boston Education Organizer, to begin on January 15, 2011. This is a ten-hour-per-week employee status position. Qualifications for this position include:
Responsibilities for this position include:
Starting salary for this position is $13.00/hour, and the position includes no standard fringe benefits. NOFA/Mass is a decentralized organization, with all staff members working from their home offices. All NOFA/Mass staff members must be members in good standing of NOFA/Mass. In addition, staff members are required to attend the following events:
Resumes will be accepted until December 31, 2010. Please send your resume and cover letter to Julie Rawson at julie@nofamass.org. Questions, call (978) 355-2853. |
Colleges Invited to Compete for Top Recycling Title in 2011 (Boston, Mass. – Dec. 13, 2010) – A nationwide, friendly competition set to begin in February pits colleges and universities in a contest to see who can reduce, reuse, and recycle the most campus waste. It offers bragging rights and special awards made out of recycled materials to the winning schools. Last year, 607 participating campuses collectively recycled or composted over 84.5 million pounds during the 10 week RecycleMania competition, including 76 New England schools who recovered 9.27 million pounds of recyclables and organics. Registration for the 2011 Tournament is now open. Registration is fast and easy and can be completed online. The 2011 Tournament will officially extend for eight weeks between February 6 and April 2, 2011. Leading up to official start, colleges will participate in two weeks of non-binding pre-season "Trials" that begin January 23rd. Throughout the combined ten weeks, colleges will report their recycling and trash weights and be ranked on Recyclemania’s Results page. RecycleMania taps into the high-energy, competitive spirit and campus rivalries of schools to motivate students to step up campus recycling efforts. Though many schools have had recycling and waste prevention programs for years, studies have found that large volumes of recyclables still end up in the trash. RecycleMania raises awareness and can also increase recycling levels. RecycleMania is a project of the College and University Recycling Council (CURC) and is supported Keep America Beautiful and by U.S. EPA’s WasteWise Program. EPA’s WasteWise program is a free partnership helping U.S. organizations eliminate or reduce costly waste, which benefits both the financial bottom line as well as the environment. New England encourages all New England colleges to continue their waste reduction efforts year round and join EPA’s WasteWise program. Partners get free access to Re-TRAC, a web-based data management and reporting system. |
The Five Star Restoration Grant Program, administered by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF), provides modest financial assistance on a competitive basis to support community-based wetland, riparian, and coastal habitat restoration projects that build diverse partnerships and foster local natural resource stewardship through education, outreach and training activities. The deadline to apply is Monday, February 14, 2010 – click here to access the full Request for Proposals document and other items relating to this grant opportunity. At least $375,000 of the current grant round will be made available to support urban conservation and restoration in twelve metropolitan areas (including Boston). To be eligible for this urban conservation and restoration funding, projects must include a spring community service day in which funding partners can participate in a restoration project (e.g., planting trees or native plants, pulling invasive plants, removing trash from urban waterways, installing rain gardens, etc.). All Five Star-funded projects must: (1) include on-the-ground wetland, riparian, in stream and/or coastal habitat restoration (in the targeted metropolitan areas, urban restoration projects may also include the creation of backyard wildlife habitat and “green infrastructure” through tree plantings, rain gardens, pollinator gardens, etc.); (2) integrate meaningful environmental education into the restoration project either through community outreach, participation, and/or integration with K-12 environmental curriculum; (3) involve a diverse set of community partners to accomplish the project’s objectives; (4) result in measurable ecological and educational/social benefits. The Five Star partners will host a webinar on Thursday, December 16th, 2010 from 2:00-3:30 PM which will provide supplemental information regarding the grants program and respond to questions (click here for more info). |
Informal Public Comments on revised CMS due by January 31, 2011 Hi All. |
Comment on Energy Labeling for Commercial Buildings A new Department of Energy Resources (DOER) white paper, "An MPG Rating for Commercial Buildings: Establishing a Building Energy Asset Labeling Program in Massachusetts," lays out a series of concepts and preliminary recommendations associated with the development of a commercial building energy asset rating and labeling program. This proposal equates building labeling with the familiar car performance rating of miles per gallon (MPG), and continues Massachusetts' exploration of innovative and cost-effective solutions that reduce buildings' energy use, costs, and associated green house gas emissions. It is designed to provide clear and actionable energy information about a building's potential energy performance, increase the value of good energy performance in the marketplace, and lead ultimately to greater uptake of efficiency investments. Letter from DOER Commissioner, Phil Giudice Public Comment Information There are three ways to provide comments:
To RSVP for the public hearing and/or webinar, please send an email to yaara.grinberg@state.ma.us by Thursday, January 13th, 5 p.m. (EST). After reviewing all comments and amending the strategy as appropriate, DOER expects to move forward with the development of a commercial building labeling pilot program, in collaboration with a number of stakeholders. |
Underpass in Idaho will cut number of wildlife/vehicle collisions Southwest Idaho’s first wildlife underpass opened a little more than a month ago, and the animals seem to be getting the hang of it. A motion-sensor camera installed to determine whether critters are using it has already captured photos of deer, elk and even a fox using the underpass. Ed Bottum, Idaho Department of Fish and Game’s manager of the Boise River Wildlife Management Area, is pleased to learn that some animals almost immediately began using the tunnel. “It is something these animals have never encountered before. For decades they’ve been coming down the face of this mountain,” he said. In an effort to increase motorists’ safety and reduce wildlife mortality, the Idaho Transportation Department used $800,000 in stimulus money to build a wildlife underpass along a particularly dangerous stretch of Idaho 21 just north of the Mores Creek bridge. The 15-foot tall by 30-foot wide opening lies directly on a major migration path where three drainages converge just below the road on the east side of Idaho 21. |
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