Table of Contents -- click the article title to jump directly to it
July 31, 2008 - Greenhouse gas curbs advance to state Senate (The Boston Globe)
July 23, 2008 - Gore gets behind emissions measure (The Boston Globe)
June 4, 2008 - Brookline support programs win state funding (Brookline Tab)
May 29, 2008 - Massachusetts law to manage and protect ocean waters (The New York Times)
May 29, 2008 - Column was case of 'swiftboating' (Brookline Tab)
May 28, 2008 - Brookline seeks state aid for 25 tainted properties (Brookline Tab)
May 15, 2008 - Pike tollpayer subsidy of Rose Kennedy Greenway dropped from bill (MetroWest Daily News)
May 13, 2008 - Threat of contaminated water draws wary eye of lawmakers (State House News Service)
April 27, 2008 - State, Feds still debating how to prevent damage to bay (New Bedford Standard-Times)
April 2, 2008 - Prison camp survior vows walk to remember massacre (The Daily Free Press)
March 25, 2008 - Pols eye foreclosure assistance (Boston Herald)
March 4, 2008 - Domestic violence advocate dedicates garden to murden daughter, victims everywhere (Brookline Tab)
February 15, 2008 - Provision could allow building of wind farm (The Boston Globe)
January 30, 2008 - Religious leaders take green vows (The Daily Free Press)
January 14, 2008 - Activists say water pipes need as much repair as roads (SouthCoastToday.com)
November 15, 2007 - Ocean management supporters rally at Statehouse (SouthCoastToday.com)
November 4, 2007 - Global warming opponents demand cuts in carbon emissions (The Boston Globe)
August 4, 2007 - Balancing shoreline interests (Globe editorial by Frank and Speaker DiMasi)
July 8, 2007 - Right to fresh air sought for patients (The Boston Globe)
June 29, 2006 - Accord on mercury bill reached on Beacon Hill (State House News Service)
June 23, 2006 - Bill proposes to boost oversight, control over biosafety labs (Mass High Tech editorial by Frank)
June 4, 2006 - Capping the greenhouse (Globe editorial)
May 28, 2006 - THE POLITICAL TRAIL - Kennedy's wind farm move yields local heat (The Boston Globe)
May 26, 2006 - Legislators meet with South Shore municipal waste managers (Kingston Mariner)
May 15, 2006 - 69 State Legislators urge defeat of Anti-wind farm Amendment (Cape Cod Times)
May 15, 2006 - 69 Mass. lawmakers petition Congress for Cape wind farm (New Bedford Standard-Times)
May 10, 2006 - SKY TO GET LESS POISONOUS (Boston's Weekly Dig)
April 21, 2006 -
It's possible to be clean, green, and profitable (Globe editorial by Frank and Dr. Paul R. Epstein)
The Boston Globe
Greenhouse gas curbs advance to state Senate
By Elizabeth Daley and Martin Finucane
July 31, 2008
The Massachusetts House gave preliminary approval yesterday to a bill that would sharply curb greenhouse gas emissions in the state.
The measure has moved to the Senate for final approval. Aides said Patrick may sign it into law as early as today.
The proposed law would require that the emissions, which scientists say are causing global warming, be reduced from 1990 levels by as much as 25 percent by 2020. It also calls for a reduction of 80 percent by 2050. The bill provides fines of as much as $25,000 a day for violations.
"Now is the time to take action," said Representative Frank Smizik, chairman of the Joint Committee on Environment, Natural Resources, and Agriculture. He warned his colleagues that without action, the state's climate would soon feel like South Carolina's. The bill passed unanimously on a 154-to-0 vote.
Former vice president Al Gore wrote a letter last week urging the House to act.
More than 100 representatives signed a letter to House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi supporting the bill.
The business community has opposed the bill.
The redrafted bill is expected to be passed by the Senate and to be signed into law by Governor Deval Patrick.
The gas emissions bill was one of a number of actions taken by lawmakers yesterday as they wind down their business before a summer recess.
Hoping to give shoppers a break and to boost retail sales, Patrick signed the sales tax holiday into law yesterday. The move will suspend the 5 percent tax for many items Aug. 16 to 17.
Patrick said he was glad the state could give people a break in time for back-to-school purchases. "We hope it stimulates all sorts of sales activity during what is otherwise a slow time of year," he said in a statement.
The sales tax will be suspended for purchases up to $2,500 not including meals, telecommunications services, tobacco products, gas, steam, electricity, motor vehicles, and motorboats.
Also yesterday, the House made a technical change in a bill allowing gays who live in other states to marry in Massachusetts. The change allows gays to marry here immediately rather than after 90 days.
The move was made one day after members voted to repeal a 1913 law that blocked such marriages.
The House gave final approval to the bill yesterday and attached an emergency preamble to let it take effect as soon as it is signed by the governor. Most bills must wait 90 days before becoming law.
In other action, a bipartisan House committee recommended lawmakers use identification cards to cast their votes.
DiMasi introduced the new, secure voting system after members were caught letting others vote for them, including one who was in the Virgin Islands at the time of a vote.
Material from the Associated Press and the State House News Service was used in this report.
The Boston Globe
Gore gets behind emissions measure
By Neil Munshi
July 23, 2008
Former vice president Al Gore has endorsed a bill that would require sharp reductions in carbon emissions in Massachusetts, and some state legislators and leading environmental groups hope his support will spur the State House to approve the measure before the end of the formal session next week.
Gore wrote a letter urging action by the House on the Global Warming Solutions Act - which has already passed the state Senate. More than 100 representatives have signed a letter to House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi in support of the bill, which would require greenhouse gas emissions to be 20 percent below 1990 levels by 2020, and 80 percent below by 2050.
DiMasi has not taken a position on the bill, nor has the administration of Governor Deval Patrick, though it is generally supportive of a statewide cap on emissions.
"I urge your colleagues to take even bolder steps toward solving the climate crisis," Gore wrote in the letter, which was read aloud during a State House news conference yesterday by state Senator Marc R. Pacheco, who sponsored the legislation. "We have an historic opportunity to shift to a clean-energy economy, and, in the process, create new, sustainable jobs to support the development and deployment of these new technologies."
A number of other speakers said global warming should be seen more broadly than in just economic terms.
"I'm afraid right now that we are more concerned about the business climate than the earth's climate," said state Representative Frank I. Smizik, chairman of the Joint Committee on Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture. "Until we realize they are not mutually exclusive, we won't be able to address these issues."
Members of the Conservation Law Foundation, Environment Massachusetts, the Union of Concerned Scientists, and other advocacy groups also were there to promote the bill.
The House can vote only if the speaker moves the bill to the floor by next week.
"The bill is still under consideration here," said David Guarino, the speaker's spokesman. "But it should be clear to anyone who has been watching the session that we've already" made significant progress on energy.
Robert Keough, spokesman for the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, agreed.
"Under Governor Patrick, Massachusetts joined the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative and became the first state in the nation to require greenhouse gas analysis and mitigation in major real estate projects," he said in a statement. "Comprehensive energy legislation, the oceans management bill, and pending biofuels legislation all put Massachusetts into a leadership position nationally. We support the creation of an economy-wide cap as the next step in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, but many details remain to be worked out with the Legislature."
Brookline Tab
Brookline support programs win state funding
June 4, 2008
Brookline – Last week, the Massachusetts Association of Jewish Federations was successful in securing funding for the Naturally Occurring Retirement Community and the Russian Teens-At-Risk program in the budget approved by the Senate and the House of Representatives. Both of the programs are located in Brookline and are owned and operated by the Jewish Family and Children’s Service of Greater Boston.
The NORC allows low-income seniors to age in place by providing services, such as health care and transportation, to them in their community or neighborhood. The Russian Teens program provides a support system for Russian youths with substance abuse problems.
State Sen. Cynthia Creem, D-Newton, was the lead sponsor for both programs in the Senate, and state Rep. Frank Smizik, D-Brookline, was the lead sponsor for both programs in the House of Representatives. Creem and Smizik fought during budget negotiations to secure $125,000 for the NORC program and $100,000 for the Russian Teens program. Budget negotiations were tough this year because Massachusetts is facing a $1.3 billion deficit and many programs were cut this year out of the state budget.
As of February, 2008, 150 seniors ? most in their 80s and 90s ? were participating in the program in Brookline and receiving a wide range of support services, including on-site health care, case management, counseling, exercise and strength training, and engagement in mentally stimulating on-site programming.
Drug abuse and other illegal behavior among Russian-speaking teens have declined dramatically since the establishment of this program. Teens’ parents also report a dramatic improvement in academic performance, attitude and motivation in their children. Past participants, who are now college students and graduates have returned to provide leadership and role-modeling for current participants.
The New York Times
Massachusetts law to manage and protect ocean waters
By Katie Zezima
May 29, 2008
BOSTON — Gov. Deval Patrick signed into law Wednesday a measure that will establish the nation’s first management and protection plan for a state’s ocean waters.
The law sets ground rules for all offshore projects and businesses, including energy ventures and conservation areas that lie in state waters. The state controls all water within three miles of the coast, about 1.6 million acres of water.
“This is a first in the nation for a comprehensive approach to managing the ocean,” said Tom McCann, spokesman for the Ocean Conservancy, a national advocacy organization. “It’s an important road map that other states can follow.”
The law comes as numerous projects are being proposed for the waters off Massachusetts. They include liquid natural gas terminals, wind farms, and sand and gravel mining operations. Currently, the state approves projects case by case. The law acts much like zoning, laying out what can be built where.
“There’s a symphony, sometimes a cacophony of activity going on or proposed in our coastal waters,” said Ian Bowles, the state secretary of energy and environmental affairs. “What’s unique about this is it puts everything on the table, how to prioritize things, how to protect areas that need to be protected, support fishing and energy, and prepare for development.”
Projects that have already undergone a full state review will not be subject to the law, and these include the controversial Cape Wind project, the nation’s first offshore wind farm.
The law calls for the creation of a 17-member board to advise Mr. Bowles on ocean decisions and to include members from local planning commissions, a fishery, an environmental organization and an expert in renewable energy. Another panel that includes only scientists will also provide guidance.
“It’s been a first-come-first-serve gold rush mentality with projects,” said Priscilla Brooks, director of the ocean conservation program at the Conservation Law Foundation. “This allows the state to be proactive and plan for this development while taking into account the needs of the environment.”
In 2003, the Pew Oceans Commission issued a report saying that states and the federal government were not protecting and managing ocean resources. It said the United States had “failed to conceive of the oceans as our largest public domain, to be managed holistically for the greater good.”
Leon E. Panetta, a White House chief of staff in the Clinton administration and the chairman of the Pew Oceans Commission, said in a statement Wednesday that the Massachusetts law followed the spirit of what the Pew report called for.
“With this bill, Massachusetts has become a leader in ocean policy in this country,” the statement said.
Brookline Tab
Column was case of 'swiftboating'
By Rep. Frank I. Smizik, 15th Norfolk District
May 29, 2008
“Swiftboating” has become a term used to identify character assassinations in the guise of political speech. In her column [“The flak is flying in South Brookline,” May 22], Regina Frawley has proven to be a worthy practitioner of that tactic. At the May Town Meeting in 2007, I rose to speak in support of protecting the Hoar Sanctuary, a well-used and well-appreciated nature conservancy.
This sanctuary is beneficial to the quality of life in South Brookline and is used by all town residents.
The result from my rising to speak is a column from Ms. Frawley that accuses me of unethical conduct as well as contempt for South Brookline. She uses an unattributed statement about South Brookline — that I never said — to promote her weak case. She brings up a professional relationship that I have had with Ken Kurnos, implying that the relationship is the reason that I spoke out, which it is not. (Incidentally, if Ms. Frawley had reviewed voting records in Town Meeting, she would find that Ken and I disagree more than we agree).
Let me set the record straight. Ken’s law firm has no pecuniary interest, nor have they filed any papers, in the matter concerning the construction of a turnaround on Princeton Road adjacent to Hoar Sanctuary. My testimony last May made no critical remarks of South Brookline; my only concern was the protection of a place where small animals, birds and natural habitat can survive. As House chair of the Joint Committee on Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture, I look at issues like this every day. Of course, my legislative work influences my views relative to issues in my own community … as well they should.
This matter is a simple question of whether to permit development that would encroach upon and destroy a natural treasure that Brookline has protected in the past.
People are tired of personal charges made at political figures and candidates at all levels of government. I found Ms Frawley’s column to be based upon assumptions, guilt by association and personal animus. I reject this kind of politics.
Brookline Tab
Brookline seeks state aid for 25 tainted properties
By Neal Simpson
May 28, 2008
Brookline - Brookline officials are asking the state to pitch in millions of dollars for the cleanup of residential properties tainted by soil from the town’s old landfill, which was recently capped and hasn’t been used for decades.
Officials have offered few details about the required cleanup, citing ongoing negotiations with neighbors, but Town Administrator Richard Kelliher said as many 25 homes on the western side of Skyline Park, the former Newton Street Landfill, could be affected. The town has set aside $2.9 million to start the cleanup, while lawmakers are seeking an additional $12 million from the state.
Ed Coletta, spokesman for the Department of Environmental Protection, confirmed that 25 homes in the vicinity of Martha’s Lane and Kensington Circle had been tainted with ash from the town’s old incinerator. He said the ash was discovered during the construction of a new home on Martha’s Lane in 2005.
Public Works Commissioner Tom DeMaio said that the soil could contain lead, though none has been detected.
“We’ve looked at it, we’ve looked at the situation on the other side, but there’s really no imminent health hazard to this,” he said.
DeMaio said all affected homeowners have been notified, and that work has already begun around some homes. Some homeowners have agreed to cleanup plans, while others are still negotiating with the town.
Colletta, the state spokesman, said the state is working with the town to remove as much material as is “feasible or practical.” On other tainted property, the town has had to remove soil as far down as 3 feet.
The new batch of tainted properties is just the latest in a decade-long effort to close the Newton Street Landfill, which stopped serving the town in the 1970s. In 2005, the town began capping the landfill and replacing it with a new park, which is slated for a grand opening next month.
The cleanup effort has been confounded by lead-tainted ash from the town’s old incinerator, which operated on and off from 1952 to 1975. In some cases, private developers used the ash as fill when building nearby homes.
Though the houses sit on private property, the Department of Environmental Protection has held the town responsible for their cleanup. Between fiscal 2004 and 2007, Brookline spent nearly $5 million cleaning up 26 properties along Newton Street and Hammond Pond Parkway, according to DeMaio. Trees had to be removed in some cases and several yards had to be re-landscaped.
If the town gets the aid it has requested, it would be the first time the state has helped pay for cleanup around the landfill. Rep. Frank Smizik, D-Brookline, and Rep. Michael Rush, D-West Roxbury, submitted the request in April as an amendment to the environmental bond bill.
“Obviously, this is something that’s necessary for public health and safety, and I feel very comfortable putting this in the bond bill,” said Smizik.
Even if the bill passes the legislature, Gov. Deval Patrick will have final the say on how the money is spent. Town officials have already begun petitioning the governor to secure his support.
At a May 7 Brookline Chamber of Commerce breakfast at which the governor was speaking, Selectman Chairman Nancy Daly asked Patrick to help secure money for what she called an “extraordinary environmental issue.”
Patrick said he was unfamiliar with the legislation, and declined to pledge his support until he had more information.
“I will find out about it, and then we will do what we can to support you,” he said.
It’s not clear how the money would be spent or how many homes could be cleaned up, though Kelliher said that the $2.9 million could be used to clear out up to eight properties of the 25 affected.
DeMaio said the town has not yet determined how far the money will go.
“This is another phase, and where it takes us, God knows,” he said. “We’re all marching to a drum.”
Neal Simpson can be reached at nsimpson@cnc.com.
MetroWest Daily News
Pike tollpayer subsidy of Rose Kennedy Greenway dropped from bill
By Lindsey Parietti
May 15, 2008
BOSTON —
After removing a controversial provision that would have forced turnpike tollpayers to shoulder a $10 million payment, a legislative committee Thursday approved a bill transferring control of the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway from the Turnpike Authority to a private conservancy.
MetroWest lawmakers have heavily criticized the legislation sponsored by House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi, arguing that the cash-strapped authority, which hit pike users with higher tolls in January to pay for Big Dig debt, should not have to pay to ease takeover of the Boston parks.
“We heard strongly from the legislators from MetroWest,” said Joint Environment Committee Chairman Rep. Frank Smizik, D-Brookline, of the decision. “They didn’t think it was fair to put money that MetroWest people pay for the turnpike tolls and have the money go to the Boston Greenway.”
State Rep. David Linsky, D-Natick, applauded the committee’s decision, saying, “The Massachusetts Turnpike Authority is clearly not in any financial position to contribute to the construction and maintenance of the greenway. MetroWest commuters for too long have paid far too much for the construction of the Central Artery and they should not have to also pay for the park on top of the Central Artery.”
The authority paid $5 million to match private donations to the conservancy in 2005.
The nonprofit conservancy was created in 2004 and scheduled to assume control of the 15 acres of parks in 2012, but after reaching its $20 million fundraising goal early, Executive Director Nancy Brennan said in February that the conservancy could be ready to take over as early as 2010.
Brennan did not return calls for comment.
Under the revised legislation, the nonprofit conservancy, which is funded mostly by private donors, would receive $2 million from the state and a maintenance shed from the Turnpike Authority, Smizik said.
When asked whether the substitution would be sufficient Smizik said, “I hope so. They’re going to have to raise money.”
After fighting against toll hikes last fall, Turnpike Authority Board member Mary Connaughton of Framingham called the decision a win for tollpayers.
“That’s very good news for MetroWest,” she said. “It would have been a shame if tollpayers had to foot the bill for this $10 million, which in this day and age is totally out of hand.”
The House and Senate must approve the bill before it reaches Gov. Deval Patrick’s desk.
MetroWest Daily News staff Lindsey Parietti can be reached at lindsey.parietti@cnc.com.
State House News Service
Threat of contaminated water draws wary eye of lawmakers
By Kyle Cheney
May 13, 2008
Boston - Perfumes, antibiotics, sunblock and veterinary drugs - parts of a nightmarish cocktail of contaminants described by state officials that threatens the state's water supply.
Although Massachusetts water regulators maintain that the Bay State's water is not only the cleanest but the best-tasting around, lawmakers held a hearing Tuesday in response to recent reports that drinking water around the country has been tainted with trace amounts of dozens of pharmaceutical and personal care products (PPCPs).
"Clean water is the lifeblood of the environment," said Environment Committee Chairman Frank Smizik at the outset of the hearing, held jointly with the Committee on Public Health, adding "Pharmaceuticals have begun to appear in water."
Testimony included little documented evidence of harm to humans as a result of contaminated water, but experts warned that trace amounts of medicines in the water could cause people to develop a resistance to the antibiotics meant to help them. Other dangers, they said, include damage to wildlife and vulnerable ecosystems, as well as unforeseen effects on humans should trace amounts of different medicines mix.
Pharmaceuticals end up in the water largely as a result of human waste, experts said at the hearing, but also when people dispose of their excess medication by flushing it down the toilet, a practice that was once encouraged by pharmacists. Other sources include waste emitted by pharmaceutical laboratories and assisted living facilities.
State officials decried a lack of federal support for water pollution prevention and treatment.
"The presence of these products in water supplies is certainly an emerging national issue and a legitimate concern," said Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Laurie Burt. "The issue around contamination around drinking water supplies is usually led on the federal level."
Public Health Committee Co-chair Rep. Peter Koutoujian shared that sentiment, saying, "It appears that the federal government has not been stepping up on this issue."
Burt said the absence of federal support has led her department to analyze the "very, very low levels" of pharmaceuticals found in Massachusetts water.
"Mass DEP is supporting further study to determine the extent of these substances in our water sources," she said. "We will also be looking at different treatments that are commonly used to see how effective they are."
One such treatment hailed by the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority is the bubbling of ozone through the water supply. When the Associated Press reported in early March that water around the country had been contaminated, the MWRA tested its water for 30 compounds often found in pharmaceuticals and also for caffeine, the presence of which is common when water treatment fails.
"The results came back clean on all counts," said MWRA Executive Director Frederick Laskey.
Laskey said the MWRA, which provides water to 2.3 million Massachusetts residents, would continue "our aggressive water protection." He said filtering ozone through the water before it is delivered neutralizes dangerous compounds and even adds a "crisp" taste to the water. He noted that water authorities in Cambridge and Worcester also use ozone to treat their water.
A representative for the pharmaceutical industry, Leslie Wood, said drugs found in the water supply were only detectable because of advances in technology that enable scientists to analyze water in parts per trillion, as opposed to the previous standard of parts per billion.
"Studies conducted today suggest it is highly unlikely that there is a risk to human health because of these trace amounts in the environment," Wood said. "There appears to be no demonstrable risk."
Wood added, "Pharmaceuticals will not result in short-term or acute toxicity."
Public Health Committee member Rep. Alice Wolf said the appearance of even trace amounts concerned her.
"I get very nervous when people say, 'we see these pollutants but we don't think they have any effect,'" Wolf said.
Robert Zimmerman, executive director of the Charles River Watershed Association, said beef, pork, chicken and milk all contain higher proportions of dangerous antibiotics than water.
"This committee needs to make sure that whatever resolution ... you look at the totality of the issue," he said.
Officials mulled several potential suggestions about how best to mitigate the presence of contaminants in the water, including the possibility of establishing pharmaceutical "takeback" programs, in which drug distributors would establish a process for reclaiming unused medication and encourage consumers to return them to the store.
Members wondered about the feasibility and the effectiveness of such a program, but all agreed the disposing of excess drugs via toilet is no longer advisable.
"We are asking residents not to flush unused prescription drugs down the sink but to dispose of them as safely as possible in the trash," Burt said. In the past, consumers were told to flush various medications, including OxyContin, to stem the possibility of drug abuse by anyone who discovered the pills in the trash.
In written testimony to the committee, one environmental advocacy group challenged Commissioner Burt over regulations DEP may promulgate that could relax waste restrictions on hospitals, nursing homes and assisted living facilities.
"The proposed regulations reclassify hospitals as 'residences.' Currently, they are classified as industrial, as well they should be," said Kyla Bennett, director of the New England wing of Public Employees for Environmental Safety in an email to the News Service.
In testimony submitted to the committee, Bennett said, "DEP appears to be giving lip service only to the problem of PPCP contamination. It is of great concern to note that DEP's new proposed groundwater discharge regulations reclassify nursing homes and hospitals as 'residences,' therefore making it easier for these facilities to discharge into ... municipal wells."
Under questioning from Rep. Jennifer Callahan, Burt said assisted living facilities and similar waste producers should be evaluated based on whether they directly discharge into a water supply or into a sewer system.
New Bedford Standard-Times
State, Feds still debating how to prevent damage to bay
By David Kibbe
April 27, 2008
BOSTON — Five years after a Bouchard Transportation Co. barge struck a ledge and ripped open on Buzzards Bay, coating the shoreline with dark globs of oil, the federal and state governments are still arguing over how to prevent it from happening again.
The Legislature passed far-reaching, new protections in 2004, only to see most of them discarded by a federal judge who said it stepped on the Coast Guard's jurisdiction. The state law would have imposed a requirement on oil shippers to hire tug escorts and state-licensed pilots to help them cross Buzzards Bay.
Last year, an appeals court sent the case back to U.S. District Court for a new hearing, where it still awaits action on the fifth anniversary of the oil spill.
In the meantime, the Coast Guard moved on long-awaited regulations to prevent oil spills, but elected officials and environmentalists said it was too little, too late.
Last fall, the Coast Guard began requiring single-hulled barges to use tug escorts and federally licensed pilots in the narrow, tricky bay. But the requirement does not apply to double-hulled vessels, as the state was seeking. The Coast Guard said that double-hulled vessels pose less risk.
Roughly half the oil shipments that cross the bay are double-hulled.
The Legislature is still probing for ways to get around the federal court ruling and go further than the Coast Guard.
With three months left in session, coastal legislators are increasingly optimistic they can pass a bill to require tug escorts and state pilots for both single- and double-hulled oil shipments in Buzzards Bay.
The proposed state law has been sitting in the House Ways and Means Committee since it passed the Senate unanimously in November.
House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi has not taken a position on tug escorts. However, he heard plenty about the bill during a boat tour of Buzzards Bay with Southeastern Massachusetts legislators earlier this month.
"It does start to make you nervous when you get so close to the end of the session, but we are feeling very optimistic right now," said Mark Rasmussen, executive director of the Coalition for Buzzards Bay. "Our local delegation has let leadership at Ways and Means and the speaker's office know how important this is to the region."
The bill is also a priority of Rep. Frank Smizik, D-Brookline, House chair of the Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture Committee. Rep. Smizik was also on the boat tour.
"The bill is very necessary," Rep. Smizik said. "We went out on Buzzards Bay a couple of weeks ago. You can see how narrow it is, how many ledges and problems with navigation that there are out there. It is really important that we protect Buzzards Bay with legislation like this."
The new legislation would require the state Department of Environmental Protection to dispatch tug escorts with experienced state pilots to shadow both single- and double-hulled oil shipments that enter the bay.
To pay for the escorts, the delivery fee on oil shipments to marine terminals would be raised by 3 cents a barrel, up to 5 cents. That would match the fee charged in Rhode Island.
Oil transportation companies that did not notify the state 24 hours before they entered the bay would be subject to triple the normal fines if they caused a spill.
The clock is running down on the legislative session, with action on any controversial bills ending for the year on July 31.
"I always get anxious about time as we get close to the end of the session," Sen. Montigny said. "In this case, I'm even more anxious, because every day that we allow companies like Bouchard to ply those waters and wreak havoc on our environment, it's a day that those of us who love the bay or rely on the bay for our livelihood should be quite concerned. ... This bay is not really any more protected than it was five years ago."
The shipping industry is arguing against the new proposal, again warning that it treads on federal jurisdiction over the waterways.
Rep. John F. Quinn, D-Dartmouth, a member of the House Ways and Means Committee, has been lobbying to get the bill through. He brought it up with Rep. DiMasi on the boat tour.
"I urged him to take action," Rep. Quinn said. "Chairman Smizik was on that boat. He said it was one of his top priorities to get it done. We're all on board. We are just trying to push it over the goal line."
Sen. Montigny said the region "has a very strong group of House members who feel just as strongly as I do that we need to pass this bill."
Last fall, the Coast Guard also required all oil shipments to use a vessel movement reporting system so the Coast Guard and Army Corps of Engineers can track them through the bay. But local officials said the Coast Guard should have also required the use of state pilots, not federal pilots, whom they contend are less familiar with local conditions.
U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., is also pushing for changes at the federal level, including a requirement that oil shipments be accompanied by state pilots with a federal license or federal pilots who have experience in Buzzards Bay. The proposal passed the U.S. House last week as part of a larger package on fishing safety.
If the federal government adopted the state's oil spill law, the fight would be over. For now, the legal and legislative tussles will go on.
"We said all along that if the federal law was changed, that would resolve it," Rep. Quinn said.
The Daily Free Press (The Independent Student Newspaper at Boston University)
Prison camp survivor vows walk to remember massacre
By Alyssa Assamnew
April 2, 2008
Yang Jianli, a former Chinese political prisoner who returned to Brookline after a five-year stint in a prison camp, said he plans to walk 500 miles from Boston to Washington, D.C., to honor those who helped bring him home and raise awareness of the Chinese government's human rights violations.
Yang's announcement came after Rep. Frank Smizik, a Brookline Democrat, honored him for his activism for democracy and human rights in China in a special ceremony at the State House yesterday.
Yang, who is also a Tiananmen Square Massacre survivor, said he will leave Boston on May 4 and will travel on his "GongMin Walk" through New York City, Philadelphia and Baltimore before reaching Washington, D.C. on June 4, the 19th anniversary of the massacre, in which the Chinese government crushed pro-democracy protesters. Yang said with his 22.5-inch stride, he will take about 1.4 million steps during his walk.
Yang's group, Initiatives for China, is a new Boston-based coalition committed to empowering Chinese citizens and pro-democracy groups in the Communist country.
The father of two said he had returned to China in 2002 to study the country's labor unrest before he was arrested for treason. After a yearlong trial, he was convicted and sentenced to a five-year prison term, during which he said he was tortured and put in isolation for long periods. He finished his term last April and returned to Boston in August.
Yang called his walk a way of "throwing a little more tea in the harbor," alluding to Boston's role in the American Revolution.
"As Boston goes, so goes the nation," he said. "As America goes, so goes the world."
Yang said most Chinese do not find truth in the Olympic motto of Beijing, "One World, One Dream," but think "One World, One Nightmare" is more accurate.
Fourteen-year-old Anita Fu, Yang's daughter, said life was hard while her father was gone. "We're just trying to get used to everything, with him back," she said. "He's adjusting, too."
Initiatives for China spokeswoman Elaine O'Malley said Yang's walk coincides with the Olympic Games to be held in Beijing this summer.
"In the coming Olympics, he wants to bring to everybody's mind the moral incompatibility between their human rights violations and their role as host of the games," she said. "He feels that America is the only country in the world with the both the moral strength and the political strength to do anything."
Brookline resident Sarah Leinbach said she plans to host a fundraiser for Yang when he gets to Washington, D.C. She said she never met him before his imprisonment, but she and fellow All Saints Church parishioners sent him letters and postcards and prayed for him every Sunday.
"I really thought he would never return," she said. "It still seems a miracle to see him."
Boston Herald
Pols eye foreclosure assistance
By Jerry Kronenberg
March 25, 2008
Four state lawmakers want people facing foreclosure to get six months of breathing room and a day in court before losing homes.
“Today we have the three triage mechanisms before us and we didn’t even realize our patient is dying,” Rep. Elizabeth Malia (D-Jamaica Plain) said in joining Reps. William Lantigua (D-Lawrence) and Rep. Frank Smizik (D-Brookline) in unveiling the House proposals. State Sen. Dianne Wilkerson, a Roxbury Democrat who has herself faced foreclosure, is sponsoring the bills in the Senate.
If the measures become law, they would:
• Require lenders to wait six months before foreclosing;
• Give homeowners a chance to challenge seizures in state court - something current law doesn’t generally allow;
• Order lenders who foreclose on rentals to keep leasing units to tenants who pay on time. Currently, tenants usually face automatic eviction following foreclosures.
But foreclosure expert John Anderson, who blames much of the problem on people buying homes they never should have, said he opposes all but the plan to allow tenants to stay in rentals.
“If they slow down the pace of foreclosure on deadbeats, they’re just going to raise the price of doing business in Massachusetts,” Anderson said.
Brookline Tab
Domestic violence advocate dedicates garden to murdered daughter, victims everywhere
By Jessica Scarpati
March 04, 2008
BROOKLINE - Jennifer Lynch would have turned 37 years old last weekend.
That is, the budding poet and photographer would have turned 37 if her husband hadn’t shot her three times in the chest at their Oregon home on Valentine’s Day 2006.
Instead, the former Brookline resident’s birthday passed on Sunday, March 2, while dozens of supporters gathered to try to make sense of her murder and dedicated a “Garden of Remembrance” to her and other domestic violence victims.
“She’s always going to be here with us,” said her mother, Pat Norling, an office manager at the town’s Health Department.
Norling has become a tireless advocate in the wake of the tragedy, telling her daughter’s story and working to get the garden built.
“The main thing is to raise awareness for domestic violence and to make sure this doesn’t happen to another family,” she said at the dedication ceremony. “We’re going to fight as hard as we can.”
As much as the service was intended to address domestic violence, it wasn’t without tearfully memorializing the life and namesake of the event.
When Lynch’s niece, Meghan Dilg, sang “Candle on the Water,” the young girl’s breathy voice seemed to ache as she repeated the final verse three times, “I’ll never let you go.”
Gerry Trombley, Norling’s colleague at the Health Department, said he recalled the mother and daughter playing softball on the ground that now honors her life and death.
“The greatest thing Pat did was give her a tremendous faith — a belief that all human beings should be respectful of each other,” Trombley said.
Lynch — who grew up on Davis Avenue — was showering at her home in Oregon when her husband shot her and then himself. She was 35.
Norling said her son-in-law, Gary, left a note that read: “I killed my wife Jennifer. I killed myself. We had some problems. The dog is in the yard.”
The West Roxbury resident has said she knew her daughter had been having problems with her husband, but never imagined the eventual outcome.
If Norling has it her way, it’s a story that would never repeat again — anywhere.
“We must change our culture,” said state Rep. Frank Smizik, D-Brookline. “It can’t only be judges or legislators or district attorneys. Every time we look at this garden, we should say, ‘Never, never, never again’.”
Meanwhile, others noted the garden as a symbolic step toward more tangible results and resources in addressing domestic violence in Brookline.
“Envision yourself an agent of change. Envision what it is you can do and do it. Do not just sit here and reflect,” said Jean Marie Carroll, an assistant district attorney for Norfolk County, who for 20 years has prosecuted domestic violence and sexual assault crimes.
Hsiu-Lan Chang, a member of the local Rotary Club, said that while women’s shelters in Boston continue to lose beds as state funding decreases, Brookline should fill the gap.
“We can’t just send them home,” said Chang, a Coolidge Corner resident and local business owner. “We need to build a safe place for these victims here in our town.”
Changing the system
Brookline Police Chief Daniel O’Leary said that in the past three years, police have handled an average of 125 domestic violence cases per year. Each year, about 85 of those cases ended in an arrest.
Since 1997, Brookline Police began a policy of adopting a “mandatory arrest” policy on domestic violence calls, provided police have probable cause. They can also issue immediate restraining orders.
“We are nowhere near ending domestic violence,” O’Leary acknowledged, saying police are undergoing more training to identify “high-risk indicators” of violent relationships.
“People like Pat and her family … is what it’s going to take to end it,” he added.
Judge Thomas May, who presides over Brookline Municipal Court, said the court issued 90 restraining orders in 2007 — working out to be “just under one per 1,000” residents, he said.
“They cut across all socioeconomic barriers, across all racial divides, all income statuses,” May said, adding that there is “nothing as troublesome as” domestic violence issues for judges.
“It forces one to confront the darkest recesses of human nature,” he added. “And a judge is always mindful that a restraining order is not a bulletproof vest.”
The comments had particular resonance in light of the recent murder of a 37-year-old Malden woman, whose body was found in the trunk of her car in late February. Her former boyfriend, against whom she had taken a restraining order, is a lead suspect in the murder.
Looking for answers, May called back to the symbolism of a garden.
“Anyone that’s ever had a garden knows they require work,” he said. “It takes pruning, it takes weeding, it takes the right amount of sun, it takes the right amount of rain, and after all, that’s what human relationships take.”
Jessica Scarpati can be reached at jscarpat@cnc.com.
The Boston Globe
Provision could allow building of wind farm: bill would guide energy projects in state waters
By Beth Daley
February 15, 2008
Large wind farms could be constructed in state waters under legislation passed by the Massachusetts House of Representatives Wednesday that critics said could aid a controversial wind energy project in Buzzards Bay.
The only pending project directly affected by the legislation is the 120-turbine wind farm proposed by developer Jay Cashman. Cashman is a friend of House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi, who failed last year to get passed a similar measure that would have helped the farm to be built.
"There is only one project on the table that this affects right now," said John F. Quinn, a Democrat from Dartmouth. He said he wants more public input before any permanent changes are made to ocean regulations, in part because there could be similar projects proposed along the state's coast. "This is a dramatic change - let's not slip it in."
The wind farm provision is part of the Oceans Management Act, a wide-ranging bill that would guide the location of renewable energy projects and other activities in state waters.
Most of Massachusetts waters are designated ocean sanctuaries, and structures in them are prohibited unless state environmental regulators agree they are needed by "public necessity and convenience." The ocean protection legislation passed this week is designed, in part, to clarify that renewable energy projects are allowed in these waters.
The Senate passed a version last year that most environmentalists applauded, allowing for the construction of small-scale wind power projects in most state waters, but only if they are consistent with a yet-to-be-developed Ocean Management Plan that would map out the best places to put them. Under the Senate bill, that plan would have to be completed in 24 months.
But the House version is vaguer, critics say, allowing any wind project in state waters and not requiring that they be consistent with an Ocean Management Plan. The House version also sets no deadline for the ocean plan, they say.
"This is the first time in the nation any state has contemplated a comprehensive plan to manage development of the oceans," said Priscilla Brooks of the Conservation Law Foundation, a Boston-based environmentaladvocacy group. The House version, she said, gives little teeth to any Ocean Management Plan.
Supporters of the House version say the language in no way was meant to give Cashman any advantage to build his wind farm, and point out that any wind farm project has to undergo environmental review. The Cashman wind farm was denied in 2006 because the state environmental secretary at the time said it was forbidden under the Ocean Sanctuaries Act and it could threaten an endangered bird species.
DiMasi spokesman David Guarino said that the speaker was aware of the language in the bill but that its sole focus was to "encourage renewable energy."
Representative Frank Smizik, a Brookline Democrat who is House chairman of the Joint Committee on the Environment, Natural Resources, and Agriculture, said the House version would allow needed renewable energy to be built in state waters as soon as possible. He said he didn't want projects to go through the same seven-year permitting process that a proposed 130-turbine wind farm in federal waters in Nantucket Sound has endured.
"We wanted it to be a little less tight" than the Senate version, Smizik said. "Our view is the [ocean management plan] is a blueprint, not a zoning law. We need wind farms."
House and Senate negotiators will meet in coming weeks to come up with compromise language. If both chambers agree, the measure would then land on Governor Deval Patrick's desk.
Ian Bowles, state secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs, said despite the differences between the Senate and House versions, it is important to note the state is on its way to having one of the first planning documents to guide ocean development.
"This legislation represents an important leadership opportunity for the Commonwealth," Bowles said. "Massachusetts would be the first state in the nation to enact a comprehensive ocean planning law."
Beth Daley can be reached at bdaley@globe.com.
The Daily Free Press (The Independent Student Newspaper at Boston University)
Religious leaders take green vows
By Kelly Allen
January 30, 2008
Though some activists turn to scientists and environmentalists to address climate change, religious leaders joined yesterday at the State House to show a united front in support of policies that protect the environment.
The Massachusetts Interfaith Climate Action Network held the Day of Prayer and Advocacy to recognize the importance of preserving the environment's beauty and resources for the sake of future generations.
Suffragan Bishop Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts retired Rev. Roy F. Cederholm took out a picture of his grandchildren, emphasizing the importance of preserving the environment for future generations.
"Can they count on us to leave them a beautiful planet full of resources?" he said.
Rabbi Eric Gurvis said children must learn how to create beauty without destroying the earth.
"We have been given incredible raw materials, but if we do not protect them there will be nothing left from which we can create raw beauty," he said.
Sen. Marc Pacheco (D-Plymouth), chairman of the Senate Committee on Global Warming and Climate Change, said due to its public health and economic effects, climate change is the most pressing issue facing policymakers today.
"Talk is cheap," he said. "It's great when we have a good rhetoric around the issue, but we need to take the actions that you are taking today and inspire the people in this building . . . We need to do something and it is long overdue."
Rep. Frank Smizik (D-Norfolk), chairman of the Committee on Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture, said the future of environmental policy will depend on the 2008 presidential election.
"There will be no federal legislation until there is a change of leadership in the executive branch," he said.
Massachusetts Conference of the United Church of Christ President the Rev. Jim Antal said leaders today were called by unborn generations to leave the world like the Biblical Eden.
He compared the environmental "revolution" to the American Revolution, and said sacrifice and generosity are necessary to its success.
"[These] are the values of every faith perspective the world over," he said.
SouthCoastToday.com
Activists say water pipes need as much repair as roads
By Steve LeBlanc
January 14, 2008
BOSTON — After years of listening to dire warnings about the future of Massachusetts' crumbling roads and bridges, clean water activists are ringing an alarm bell of their own.
Like those pushing for a fix for the state's transportation troubles, clean water activists say repairing and maintaining the state's water pipes, storage tanks and treatment plants comes with a big repair bill — about $8 billion over the next 20 years.
And they have dire warnings of their own about what continued neglect could bring.
While the threat of a system-wide meltdown is unlikely, they say the fiscal pressures on cities and towns is making it harder for them to keep up with regular maintenance — making the prospect of broken or damaged pipes more likely.
In 2006, water departments across the state reported nearly 2,000 leaks that lost more than 250 million gallons of water.
"In older cities with older pipes, you are going to have pipes that are breaking more often, that are clogging more often," said John McNabb, manager of the Drinking Water Program with the advocacy group Clean Water Action. "It's a direct public health issue. It's an affordability issue. It's a public safety issue."
The group released a report this week detailing the extent of the problem, and calling for lawmakers to pass a bill this year creating a special commission to look at the issue and recommend ways to come up with the needed money.
They have they work cut out for them.
Beacon Hill is still grappling with a bombshell report released last year by a special commission studying the extent of the state's transportation troubles.
That report concluded the state will need to bring in an extra $15 to $19 billion over the next 20 years just to maintain its current system of roads, bridges, subways and commuter rails.
That's not counting any money for new projects, like a proposed commuter rail link from Boston to New Bedford and Fall River.
That report caught the attention of lawmakers, in part because of its recommendation that the state consider solving the transportation funding crunch in part by hiking the gas tax by 11.5-cents and creating a new 5-cent per mile highway "user fee."
Those ideas met with swift opposition, but Gov. Deval Patrick has proposed divvying up the estimated $450 million that could be generated by his three casino plan between transportation upgrades and property tax relief.
Clean water advocates are also hoping to grab the attention of top state officials — although they acknowledge that unlike concrete-shedding bridges and pothole-strewn roads, water and sewer pipes are largely out of sight and mind, until one breaks.
"Every time you brush your teeth in the morning, you don't think where the water comes from, but we have to," said state Rep. Jeffrey Sanchez, D-Boston.
Advocates say there is no statewide compilation of water main miles, or of water main breaks in Massachusetts. They came up with their estimate of the number of breaks in 2007 by looking at individual reports filed by water districts with state regulators.
Another supporter of the bill, Rep. Frank Smizik, D-Brookline, said the report and the call for a special commission was an attempt, in part, to make sure the issue of clean drinking water isn't washed away by the push to solve the state's transportation troubles.
"We are trying to get in the ballgame," he said. "We've suffered from years of neglect and we have to make that up and now's the time."
That's much the same pitch made by those pushing the state to come to grips with its post-Big Dig transportation landscape — one also marked, they say, by years of neglect.
Michael Widmer, president of the business-backed Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, sat on the commission that outlined the extent of the transportation problem.
Widmer said residents shouldn't have to choose between good roads and clean, safe drinking water.
"These things don't come cheap, and you can ignore them only so long, so in the end the citizens have to pay in some fashion," he said. "It's only a question of when and how much."
The bill to create a special water infrastructure commission has already passed the Senate and is currently before the House Joint Rules Committee.
SouthCoastToday.com
Ocean management supporters rally at Statehouse
By Dave Kibbe
November 15, 2007
BOSTON — Momentum is building in the Massachusetts House of Representatives for an unprecedented ocean management plan that would decide where uses like wind power, tidal energy and liquefied natural gas facilities would be allowed in state waters.
Rep. Frank Smizik, D-Brookline, the House chairman of the Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture Committee, strongly supports the bill, which was filed by Sen. Robert O’Leary, D-Barnstable. It passed the Senate unanimously this fall.
But Rep. Smizik, who spoke in favor of the bill at a Statehouse rally marking “Massachusetts Oceans Day” Thursday, said much work needs to be done to convince the full House.
Thursday’s rally, supported by more than 40 environmental, science and recreational organizations, was part of that effort.
Leon Panetta, a former congressman and chief of staff to President Clinton, was the keynote speaker for Oceans Day. Mr. Panetta led the independent Pew Oceans Commission.
“I think it has to be built,” Rep. Smizik said of House support after speaking at Oceans Day. “Mr. Panetta coming, and others, have helped the speaker understand more about these issues. I think he has a fairly positive attitude toward it. We will start pushing that in January and we will see where it leads. It’s always a question of educating members. A lot of people don’t have oceans in their district.”
There currently is no ocean management or zoning plan.
The legislation would empower Ian Bowles, the secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs, to develop an ocean plan within two years, after suggestions from a 16-member advisory commission and a scientific council. The advisory commission would include representatives of government, environmental organizations and commercial and sport fishing.
Sen. O’Leary worked closely on the bill with Sen. Bruce Tarr, R-Gloucester. The bill was revised last year to clarify that no power would be taken away from the state Division of Marine Fisheries and no new regulations would be imposed on the fishing industry.
Sen. O’Leary credited Senate President Therese Murray, D-Plymouth, with helping get the legislation through the Senate two sessions in a row when it was “at risk.” The House did not vote on it after it passed the Senate late last session.
“The Senate president was consistently supportive and active in that process,” Sen. O’Leary said. “Without that we wouldn’t be here today.”
Rather than hurting commercial fishing, lawmakers said, ocean management would help protect the industry.
“We wanted to make sure the fishing community was particularly part and parcel of this and the decision-making that went into it,” Sen. Murray told the crowd.
While the legislation was inspired by the controversy over Cape Wind, it would not affect the proposal for 130 wind turbines in Nantucket Sound because it is in federal waters, more than 3 miles from the coast.
However, it could affect a proposed wind farm in Buzzards Bay, which is in state-controlled waters.
Cape Wind is satisfied that the bill is neutral toward the project, which is under federal review. Rep. Smizik wore a button calling for approval of Cape Wind as he spoke in favor of the legislation.
“I look forward to seeing this bill moving forward in the House,” he told the crowd.
More than 40 organizations came to the Statehouse to support the legislation, including Mass Audubon, the Conservation Law Foundation and the Ocean Conservancy. The New England Aquarium had a life-size, blow-up right whale in front of the Statehouse, and clam chowder and a raw bar were available inside.
Mr. Bowles, Sen. Marc R. Pacheco, D-Taunton, Rep. Robert M. Koczera, D-New Bedford, and Rep. Susan Peake, D-Provincetown, were among the officials who urged passage of the bill.
“This act would provide the most comprehensive approach in the nation in dealing with ocean planning,” Mr. Panetta told them. “I think it will set a precedent for the rest of the country if we could get this adopted. Your coastline, like many other coastlines, is now facing a maze of conflicting efforts. … If you don’t pass some kind of comprehensive management plan, then the result is chaos.”
The Boston Globe
Global warming opponents demand cuts in carbon emissions
By Stephanie M. Peters, Globe Correspondent | November 4, 2007
Nearly 200 people huddled around three politicians at Cathedral Church of St. Paul in Boston yesterday, rallying to draw attention to the problem of global warming.
The group waved signs, chanted slogans such as "Quit coal, cut carbon, green jobs now," and posed for pictures in the unusual setting.
The blustery, wet weather pushed the activists indoors. But it didn't dampen the gathering, one of five "Step It Up" campaign events planned statewide to draw attention to what organizers called "the intense concern of ordinary Americans and the leadership vacuum in Washington" on the issue of climate change.
"The public is starting to shift on this issue," said Lilah Glick, global warming coordinator for Clean Water Action, one of the rally's cosponsors. "Now it's about trying to shift the leadership."
Participants called for Congress to act to create 5 million "green" jobs, reduce carbon emissions by 80 percent by 2050, and ban coal plant construction.
Global warming is an issue that affects the economy and national security, said US Representative John Tierney, who urged the crowd to "keep it nonpartisan."
"You don't have to pick a party. Pick a candidate who can get it done," the Democrat said.
Tierney is coauthor of The Green Jobs Act of 2007, which was incorporated into an energy bill over the summer. The legislation would make $125 million a year available across the country to train workers for jobs in the clean-energy sector. He was joined at the rally by state Representative Frank Smizik, a Brookline Democrat who chairs the Committee on Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture, and state Senator Marc Pacheco, a Taunton Democrat who was honored recently by environmental activists for his work fighting global warming.
Kevin and Deborah Block-Schwenk , residents of the city's Allston-Brighton section, said it was the second such rally they had attended this year.
"Sadly . . . we don't respond to a crisis until it hits us right between the eyes," Kevin Block-Schwenk said. "I expect, ironically, as things get progressively worse, we'll get more people at events like this." Glick said she was pleased with the turnout given the weather. Had the weather been good, two to three times as many people might have attended, she said.
In Concord, Senator John Kerry spoke yesterday to participants at the Energy Revolution Rally in Minute Man National Historic Park. In Montpelier, scores of people gathered at the State House to urge Governor Jim Douglas to provide leadership to help Vermonters reduce their carbon dioxide emissions. Other rallies were held nationwide, activists said.
The Boston Globe
Balancing shoreline interests
By Frank Smizik and Salvatore F. DiMasi
August 4, 2007
MASSACHUSETTS is known as the Bay State for good reason.
Those who live, work, and vacation here owe much to the natural beauty of harbors, bays, rivers, wetlands, and ponds, and these riches must be protected by all of us -- the caretakers for future generations.
Last week, the House of Representatives passed legislation that recasts how we should approach the economic development and environmental questions regarding the shoreline.
Though the Senate and Governor Deval Patrick have slightly differing views, we urge them to join on to our compromise -- which, more than other drafts, strikes the delicate balance between encouraging the robust building boom Boston is experiencing with the environmental protections that our land -- and citizens -- demand.
In February, the Supreme Judicial Court forced this debate by ruling that the Department of Environmental Protection did not have the authority to apply a streamlined permitting policy for tidelands that have been filled in and were landlocked by a public way, exempting them from a full licensing review even though they remain covered by the tidelands law, Chapter 91.
The court decision created uncertainty in the licensing process and gave the Legislature 120 days to validate the regulations or to change them. We accepted this as a challenge to improve the process and give more input to communities impacted by development.
We created a compromise that gives the governor a clearer path for permitting projects and provides the public with a powerful new independent voice in the process. As is necessary for general laws, the House bill looks beyond the immediate problems and establishes a framework for decision-making that will consider the public interest for all future decisions.
This bill builds on the centuries-old legal concept known as the public trust doctrine, which protects public access along the waterfront for the benefits of "fishing, fowling, and navigation." Today, however, public benefit encompasses not just open space, environmental protections, impact on the surrounding community, and improvements to the property but also housing, commerce, and economic development. Broadly defining public benefit ensures that the public interest is considered in each significant waterfront development.
Establishing an office whose sole responsibility is to determine fairly and independently the public benefit in waterfront development protects the interests of all Massachusetts citizens to enjoy the state's shoreline. That is exactly what this bill has done.
Simultaneous with the DEP and Massachusetts Environmental Protection Act review, the bill would allow a newly established director of Tidelands and Great Ponds, as guardian of the "public trust," to review the public benefits of the development. This would include the impact on the neighborhood and the benefits to commerce such as leases, easement payments, and town or city permits.
Following public input and staff investigation, the director would send a report to DEP that would become part of the record.
The intent is to give the public more access to agency decision-making. This would help protect the environment and improve the quality of development of tidelands. The new director and staff would help supplement an understaffed DEP and help them make better decisions, not supplant DEP authority.
Our bill also guarantees title certainty for developers and owners in the more than 4,000 acres of land -- three-quarters of which is in Boston -- that was thrown into doubt by the SJC decision.
There are many ways to address a particular problem. The House has taken its course, and we look forward to continuing to work with the Senate and Governor Patrick in making the best possible law to protect our tidelands. Massachusetts has an opportunity to show the rest of the nation that we can balance protection of the priceless natural resources with the powerful market forces that continue to attract businesses, people, and tourists here.
We believe that with increased public benefits discussion, Massachusetts will be able to do an even better job of keeping our legacy as the Bay State.
Frank Smizik, of Brookline, represents the 15th Norfolk District and is House chairman of the Committee on the Environment, Natural Resources, and Agriculture. Salvatore F. DiMasi, of the North End, represents the Third Suffolk District and is speaker of the House.
The Boston Globe
Right to fresh air sought for patients
By Felicia Mello
July 8, 2007
It is not much -- just a 6-foot-by-12-foot space with a few chairs, a barbecue, and pots of basil and pink flowers. But to 47-year-old Gigi Alley, the garden she has built on the porch of her Medford home symbolizes everything she did not have during seven weeks of constant confinement in a psychiatric unit at Cambridge Hospital.
"Even in times of real distress, I can find moments of calm just by listening to the wind blow in the trees and seeing squirrels," said Alley, who suffers from depression and multiple personality disorder.
That is the idea behind a bill pending in the Legislature that would require psychiatric hospitals to provide patients like Alley with a right long enjoyed by prison inmates: daily access to the outdoors.
Dubbed the Fresh Air Bill and sponsored by Senator Patricia Jehlen, a Democrat from Somerville, and Representative Frank Smizik, a Democrat of Brookline, the legislation has met with opposition from medical centers and raised questions about the proper balance between patients' autonomy and doctors' clinical judgment.
"It's not that we're against fresh air, it's that we cannot guarantee safety," said David Matteodo, executive director of the Massachusetts Association of Behavioral Health Systems, which represents the majority of the state's private psychiatric institutions. "Many patients are in the hospital because they are dangerous to themselves and to others."
Massachusetts Department of Mental Health policy states that all public psychiatric hospitals should allow residents outdoors as long as it is safe.
But the guideline does not apply to the state's 64 private facilities, which range from high-rise, acute-care units in congested urban areas to a working farm in Western Massachusetts where people with severe psychiatric disabilities shovel hay and make cheese.
Consumers of mental health services and their advocates packed a hearing late last month before the Joint Committee on Mental Health and Substance Abuse, which is considering the bill, to make their case that sequestering patients indoors amounts to discrimination. It will be months before the bill reaches the floor of the Legislature -- if it ever does.
"I think in a way this is one of the last frontiers of the civil rights movement," Jonathan Dosick, founder of the Coalition for Fresh Air Rights, said in an interview afterward.
"Psychiatric patients in the larger picture are not being treated with decency and humanity. In our laws, prison inmates are guaranteed time outside per day, and then to have this population of people who are often labeled as violent and unstable and don't enjoy this right really angers a lot of people," he said.
Proponents and critics of the bill differ on how many hospitals would be affected. Matteodo says only two of the hospitals in his group completely ban fresh air breaks.
But many allow them infrequently, only when enough staff is available, or for patients who behave well, smoke, or stay for long periods. Advocates say such restrictions can make it all but impossible for residents to get outside.
"I have talked to parents who are getting calls from an adult child in a psychiatric unit who is told they cannot go outside because they don't smoke," said Dori Hutchinson , director of services for the Boston University Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation. "Their child takes up smoking just to be able to go outside. To me that's outrageous."
Mary Milgrom, senior director of nursing at Cambridge Hospital, where Alley stayed, said the hospital works to provide patients with fresh air on a case-by-case basis and is currently reviewing its policies.
While few researchers have explored whether being outdoors speeds recovery, many mental health professionals see the idea as common sense -- especially practitioners of ecopsychology, a budding field that examines how the natural environment influences human behavior.
"People without psychiatric conditions seem to cope better and feel more hopeful when they have access to even a small amount of landscaping," Frances Kuo , an ecopsychologist at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, wrote in a letter to the committee. "Why, then, should people in a more vulnerable state be subjected to an often barren, institutional setting?"
A century ago, wealthy eccentrics flocked to sanatoriums in the countryside to recover from stress, while poor patients spent years on state farms where they got plenty of exercise even as the government exploited their labor.
In recent years, however, advances in medication and shrinking insurance payments have led to shorter hospital stays, usually indoors in urban environments.
With an average length of stay of nine days, some private hospitals argue, fresh air becomes less of an issue.
Administrators worry they will have to construct costly outdoor courtyards for patients, or else parade them through the hospital to reach the street, potentially endangering them and the public.
"We would never want in the name of fresh air to jeopardize a life," said Dr. John Herman , director of clinical services for the psychiatry department at Massachusetts General Hospital.
Those arguments do not convince patients like Alley, who called the unit where she stayed from February to April as insular as a space station.
Even the window blinds were kept closed at all times, she said.
Returning to the outside world was so jarring, she said, that every sound grated on her nerves.
"It's easy to feel freakish and different when you're locked inside," she said. "If I had been able to go out, it would have made me feel less disconnected."
State House News Service
Accord on mercury bill reached on Beacon Hill
By Jim O'Sullivan
June 29, 2006
A compromise bill banning products that contain mercury emerged from House and Senate negotiations Monday, as legislators look to hold manufacturers liable for disposing of products in cars and lamps that contain the toxic element.
Under the bill, new cars and trucks with mercury-added vehicle switches could potentially not be sold in Massachusetts after Jan. 1, 2007 nor could the switches be sold separately. To avoid the ban, automobiles with mercury-added switches would need replacements with "a non-mercury alternative." But if such alternatives weren't available commercially, the vehicles would be exempt from the ban. The bill prohibits the sale of a host of other products containing mercury, including barometers, thermometers and gastrointestinal tubes.
Rep. Douglas Petersen, D-Marblehead, one of the House sponsors of the original mercury bill, said the compromise remains true to his intent and that of other early supporters.
"The only thing that differs is the amount of time which car manufactures have to get rid of the mercury switches, giving them two years now rather than one," Petersen said.
The bill alleviates environmental and health concerns, and could prod economic growth for mercury recycling, said Rep. Frank Smizik, D-Brookline, House chairman of the Committee on Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture and the lead House conferee on a six-member conference committee that filed its report Monday afternoon. Aides said all six conferees would sign the conference report.
Business groups criticized the legislation, calling some of the manufacturing and disposal requirements "unprecedented."
"No other state has done this. This is not something that other states have done and Massachusetts thinks is a good idea," said Mark Kohorst, senior manager of environment, health, and safety at the National Electrical Manufacturers Association. He said, "The way Massachusetts wants to do it, it's unprecedented, it's inefficient, and it's going to cause the prices to go up."
Crushing cars for recycling or junking would be illegal without first removing mercury-added components, according to the bill.
Petersen also acknowledged another change made to the bill which would not necessarily take fluorescent light bulb companies "out of the loop", but would, however, make them not "directly responsible."
Through a memorandum of understanding between the Department of Environmental Protection and mercury product makers, lamp manufacturers could offset non-compliance by sending $1 million in grants to cities and towns annually, intended to shield local governments from mercury-related recycling and disposal costs. The producers of other goods - button-cell batteries, cars and removable mercury-added lamp and formulated products - would not be covered under that grant provision. Auto makers would have until August 2007 to come up with a disposal plan for mercury-added switches removed from end-of-life vehicles; a 90 percent capture rate is required, with manufacturers responsible for paying $3 to dismantlers or recyclers for each switch.
The Department of Environmental Protection would oversee compliance, and manufacturers and recyclers would have to provide the DEP with the number of end-of-life vehicles containing mercury-added switches. Through an alternate plan, manufacturers could duck the $3 fee by designing their own plan that must achieve a 50 percent capture rate by Dec. 31, 2007 and 90 percent by Dec. 31, 2008. Non-compliance by that point would subject the manufacturers to the $3 charge. After a year under the alternate program, the auto manufacturer could borrow a plan from another state that meets the 90 percent threshold. Federally required mercury products and those deemed medically necessary are exempt from the prohibition. Fluorescent light sales are permitted under the bill, and Smizik said Monday that authors hope to encourage their use, but for consumers to dispose of them properly.
Opponents charge that the bill is impractical, would lead to higher consumer costs, and would actually reduce energy efficiency. Mercury-added lamps, they say, contain little mercury and are energy efficient. And products like TVs, computer monitors and office equipment that contain LCD screens are the technology of the future, but the legislation would force manufacturers to submit plans to collect the products - an enormous undertaking, opponents say. They say national reform, mandated at the federal level, would be more effective, and call the bill unclear in its implementation instructions.
But at a State House press conference in March, parents of disabled children said the environmental and health benefits of cutting down on mercury in the air and water outweighed the bill's negatives. They said added costs would be recouped in long-term health care and special education savings. Smizik calls the bill, which has a little over four weeks to become law as the session winds down, "something that we've done responsibly, and we think will help both the industry and the people concerned about the effects of mercury." He also said he envisions retailers providing recycling bins to ease product disposal for consumers, and businesses sprouting around the mandated recycling practices. "We'd essentially be creating a whole new industry," Smizik said during an interview in his office last week.
The bill has been the subject of intense lobbying this session, business groups in opposition and environmentalists and public health advocates in favor. Kohorst said he'd been "taken aback" by some of the rhetoric during the House floor debate.
"There seems to be some... pretty strong sentiment against a couple of the manufacturers in this state who in fact employ a lot of people and are very responsible corporate citizens," Kohorst said. "But there have been some things mentioned, in [legislative] sessions and so forth, that there seems to be some hostilities against these companies." DEP would be responsible for a campaign to educate people about the new requirements.
As far as Petersen is concerned it is now just "a matter of waiting to see when it makes it to the floor."
"I think it will be a near, if not completely, unanimous vote [in the bill's favor]," Petersen said.
Mass High Tech: The Journal of New England Technology
Bill proposes to boost oversight, control over biosafety labs
Frank Smizik
June 23, 2006
Massachusetts is seeking to be at the forefront of biotech research, medical advances and innovative technology. As a state legislator, I want to support the scientific work being done in Massachusetts, which has roughly 20 biosafety "level three" (BSL3) laboratories, and a BSL4 facility is sited for Boston. As safe and secure as such laboratories are, there is always the threat of a release. Our goal is for the state to ensure the security and the safety of all facilities in Massachusetts, particularly Level 3 and 4 laboratories.
Read the entire article
The Boston Globe (editorial)
Capping the greenhouse
June 4, 2006
FOR MORE than two years, the Romney administration led a regional initiative to put limits on the greenhouse gas emissions of the area's electric power producers. But just as the other states were coming to an agreement on this mini-Kyoto late last year, Governor Mitt Romney decided to pull out. Now a group of environmentally minded legislators is backing a bill that would re-enlist Massachusetts in this effort by other Northeast states to slow the pace of global warming.
The agreement, which seven states accepted , would reduce greenhouse gas emissions from power generators 10 percent by 2020. It would use a market-based mechanism that should appeal to Romney's entrepreneurial spirit. A cap would be placed on all the emissions the industry could produce, and power producers could buy and sell among themselves allowances to emit more than any single firm is permitted.
The effect is to put a premium on producers finding ways through renewable energy or other means to generate electricity while emitting less carbon dioxide, the most common greenhouse gas. Romney balked when the states in the initiative refused to place a lid on the value of the tradable allowances. The other states feared a lid would cramp the market's ability to force gains in carbon-reduced power generation. While Romney worried about the plan increasing utility rates, his own Division of Energy Resources did a study showing that it could reduce rates if money produced by allowance sales is invested in renewable energy and conservation.
Critics of the regional plan have a point when they argue that its overall reduction in greenhouse gas emissions would be a tiny fraction of the US total. But the regional initiative sets a precedent in demonstrating that Americans can take political action on global warming, even while Congress and the Bush administration prefer to hope the problem will just go away. An additional advantage of the regional initiative is that it could spur Northeast companies to become worldwide leaders in devising ways to develop renewable sources of power or to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in plants that use fossil fuels, especially coal.
Sponsors of the bill that would put Massachusetts into the initiative include Senators Pamela Resor of Acton and Robert O'Leary of Barnstable and Representative Frank Smizik of Brookline. The measure deserves veto-proof majorities to overcome a possible veto by Romney. He, by the way, should be reminded that not all Republicans considering runs for the White House oppose curbs on carbon emissions. Senator John McCain, the leader in GOP polls, has long backed a national version of the regional initiative.
The Boston Globe
THE POLITICAL TRAIL - Kennedy's wind farm move yields local heat
By Michael Jonas | May 28, 2006
Two months ago US Senator Edward Kennedy had Beacon Hill buzzing as he swooped down to address lawmakers at the State House for the first time in his 44-year career.
But a large contingent of the same body that welcomed the state's senior senator with reverence and awe as he pledged his support for passage of landmark healthcare legislation is now giving Kennedy something he is utterly unaccustomed to receiving from Bay State Democrats: a cold shoulder.
A group of 69 state legislators, led by Brookline state Representative Frank Smizik, earlier this month signed a letter to Congress opposing a Kennedy-backed amendment that would grant Governor Mitt Romney unilateral authority to kill the electricity-generating wind farm proposed for Nantucket Sound.
Kennedy's effort to sink the project with an amendment tacked on to a pending Coast Guard authorization bill has met with opposition from fellow Democrats in Congress and drawn the wrath of his usual allies in the environmental movement. But the heavy weather now coming at him at home highlights just what a raw nerve Kennedy has hit with his stand.
"We've listened to the arguments," Smizik said of the proposal to site 130 wind turbines off the coast of Cape Cod. "We believe it's good for Massachusetts."
Three-dollar-a-gallon gasoline prices may be adding fuel to the fire, but even without that accelerant, there seemed to be strong support for efforts to turn renewal-energy rhetoric into watt-generating reality. A recent State House News Service poll reported that more than 70 percent of Massachusetts residents support the Cape Wind project.
Smizik, the House chairman of the Committee on Environment, Natural Resources, and Agriculture, said the wind farm project could put Massachusetts in the forefront of innovation in renewable energy, making it a potential boon to job development as well a source of clean energy.
He said handing veto power over the project to Romney, who, like Kennedy, opposes the wind farm, "undermines all that has been done" in the state and federal regulatory review process to date.
Kennedy has charged that the Boston company developing the wind farm benefited from provisions of an energy bill Congress passed last year that exempt it from certain new mandates for wind projects.
"We had an opportunity to right a wrong," he told the Globe last month in defending the amendment.
But Smizik says the wrong would come from short-circuiting a process that has been underway for five years. "It negates the public input that's been involved in the project," said Smizik.
Along with Smizik, 12 other legislators, all Democrats, representing City Weekly communities signed the letter to Congress: Senator Jarrett Barrios ; Representative Gloria Fox; Representative Kevin Honan Senator Patricia Jehlen; Representative Liz Malia; Representative Michael Moran; Representative Denise Provost; Representative Michael Rush; Representative Byron Rushing; Representative Jeffrey Sanchez; Representative Carl Sciortino; and Representative Martin Walsh.
On Thursday, Kennedy backed away from his insistence on gubernatorial veto power over the project, proposing instead that the Coast Guard commandant be given final say over the project.
Kennedy, whose family compound in Hyannis Port sits just miles from the proposed offshore wind farm, has been accused of abandoning his pro-environment politics in favor of a classic bit of NIMBY self-interest.
The environmental group Greenpeace USA has mocked Kennedy in television ads that show him, in cartoon figure, literally gaveling down one wind farm turbine after another.
The letter from state lawmakers doesn't even mention Kennedy by name. But Smizik, a liberal Democrat who says he has helped gather nominating signatures for Kennedy, says he's well aware that he and his colleagues have drawn an uncomfortable line in the sandbar with their stand on the wind project.
"It's very tough to think about being on the opposite side as Senator Kennedy," said Smizik. "I still regard him as someone who has done such marvelous things throughout his career. He's an icon, really."
Michael Jonas can be reached at jonas@globe.com. |
Kingston Mariner
Legislators meet with South Shore municipal waste managers
May 26, 2006
The South Shore Recycling Cooperative (SSRC) hosted a Legislative Breakfast that packed the room at Cameron's on the Green on May 12. Representatives Tom O'Brien and Kathleen Teahan, and Monica Mullin from Sen. Therese Murray's office met with municipal solid waste managers. SSRC Chairman Merle Brown of Cohasset opened the event, and introduced guest speaker Representative Frank Smizik of Brookline, the Chairman of the Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture Committee.
Smizik acknowledged that recycling and solid waste management are pressing issues. Noting that "the financial burden of managing 300,000 tons per year of electronics waste has been heavy on municipalities," his committee has sent the Electronics Takeback Bill to the Senate for a vote.
Smizik said is encouraged that House Speaker DiMasi takes environmental issues seriously, and recently brought the first environmental bill in 6 years to a vote. The bill restricts the sale of products containing mercury to those for which there is no non-mercury substitute, and requires that manufacturers establish recycling programs for their products. Details are still being negotiated with the manufacturers, but "it is imperative that we keep mercury out of our water and air."
SSRC Executive Director Claire Sullivan played one of 30 radio ads that have been airing on local radio since November, and displayed a front page article from the day before that was the result of an SSRC press release about the $2.6 million cost of wasting paper on the South Shore in 2005. Noting the importance of state grants for such efforts, she outlined the Cooperative's legislative priorities, including increases in the recycling budget for state leadership in waste reduction efforts, updating the Bottle Bill and end of life product responsibility by manufacturers.
SSRC Vice Chairman Steven Herrmann of Hanover recounted the waxing and waning enthusiasm with which recycling has been embraced by the public.
"We seem to be reverting to a more environmentally and socially conscious time, and as a result the environment is getting better, thanks to people like John McNabb". He presented McNabb with a plaque commemorating his twelve year involvement with the SSRC and its predecessor organization, the South Shore Regional Refuse Disposal Planning Board. McNabb was instrumental in the creation of the SSRC as an independent government entity, and served as secretary from 1998-2005.
McNabb presented state Sen. Robert Hedlund, R-Weymouth, with the SSRC's fifth "Environmental Hero" award, noting his role in the creation and initial funding of the Cooperative and his support of solutions to the growing burden of solid waste management issues on member towns. Hedlund has sponsored budget amendments to increase funding for recycling, a bill requiring retailers to take back unused non-latex paint, which currently costs municipalities thousands to accept as hazardous waste, the Electronic Waste Takeback bill noted by Rep. Smizik, and the Updated Bottle Bill.
In his acceptance speech, Hedlund noted the prevalence of Boy Scout leaders and Eagle Scouts among the leadership of the SSRC, in addition to himself and Rep. O'Brien, and reminded us of the Boy Scout rule to "Leave the campsite a better place than you found it." He recalled picking the recyclables out of his parents' trash in the sixties. "I feel passionate about these issues, and want to thank the South Shore Recycling Cooperative for this honor and their continued efforts in promoting recycling," he said.
Hedlund joins Rep. Kathleen Teahan (D-Whitman), Rep. Tom O'Brien (D-Kingston), Rep. Robert Koczera (D-New Bedford), and Rep. Mark Carron (D-Southbridge) who were also named "Environmental Heroes" since 2000.
The SSRC helps its 15 member towns save money and to improve recycling and hazardous waste management through outreach, advocacy, regional contracts and waste reduction strategies. Member towns include Abington, Cohasset, Duxbury, Hanover, Hingham, Holbrook, Hull, Kingston, Marshfield, Norwell, Plymouth, Rockland, Scituate, Weymouth and Whitman.
Cape Cod Times
69 State Legislators urge defeat of Anti-wind farm Amendment
May 15, 2006
Read the full article and letter to Congress (PDF)
New Bedford Standard-Times
