CLOUDS OVER GRANITE RAIL

Friends of the Blue Hills has taken a strong interest in the MDC's proposal to fill Granite Rail Quarry with some 800,000 cubic yards of Big Dig dirt.

Granite Rail lies on north side of the Ricciuti Drive in Quincy, just west of Swingle's Quarry. An open pit nearly 200 feet deep surrounded by towering rock walls, it was acquired with public money in the early 1980's and incorporated into the Reservation. Long a favorite with rock-climbers throughout the Boston area, its use has been limited following the Norfolk County DA's 1998 decision to spend $2 million to pump it dry in the course of a homicide investigation.       The pump-out made the quarry a much more dangerous place, transforming it from open water into a deep pit with old timbers and other debris clinging precariously to its sides. A chain-link fence was built entirely around the quarry during the draining, and this fence is still up.       It is the MDC's position, shared with a number of local residents, that the best way to make the area safe again for public use is to fill the quarry to its brim. If it never again contains water, no teenage daredevils will plunge off its sheer walls, and no police divers will risk their lives searching for bodies in its depths.       Clean open water suitable for swimming is scarce in the Reservation, and FBH did not immediately warm to this proposal, especially since the dirt that would go into the quarry would be taken from underneath Boston, and would be laced with various contaminants. Drownings occur wherever people swim, and no one has suggested filling Boston Harbor because of the lives lost there.            We were also dubious that the extensive wetlands on the quarry's west side, which include Little Granite Rail Quarry, could be restored if the large reservoir at their head disappeared. Unlike so many wetlands at this end of the Reservation, these boulder-strewn pools and shallows were never impacted by runoff from the Quarry Hills project, and contained some of the cleanest water in Quincy.      Some of us, in addition, thought that the quarry's scenic qualities would suffer if the water vanished. Park-makers have always incorporated water into their designs, and Granite Rail's cliffs offer one of the Reservation's most spectacular backdrops. Therefore we suggested that the total amount of fill be reduced by 10-15%, leaving twenty or thirty feet free at the top, and that water be allowed to refill the remainder.       But this notion didn't fly with the MA Dept. of Environmental Protection, which was reclassifying Granite Rail as a landfill in order facilitate permitting. DEP didn't want any water sitting on top of the Big Dig dirt going into the quarry. They wanted to cap this dirt with clay in order to keep water out of it.       This sounded a bit strange to us, since we had been repeatedly assured that all the fill going into the quarry would be pre-tested, and would contain only minor amounts of oil, lead, mercury, or other contaminants.       Indeed, DEP's notion of prepping Granite Rail for burial by pointing to the scattering of old timbers at its bottom and calling it a "landfill" struck us as too clever by half. If the quarry weren't a landfill before, it certainly would be after it was stuffed to the gills with Boston's dregs.       Ultimately, however, it was hard to argue with the MDC's contention that an open shaft 200 feet deep, whether flooded or not, made the task of integrating Granite Rail into the Reservation a very challenging proposition. It seemed unlikely, as well, that the agency would ever find enough money or clean fill to top off the quarry in the way we'd prefer. And so, after considerable discussion, FBH decided to support the project, provided certain concerns were addressed.       We had some success in this regard. Along with the Appalachian Mountain Club, we asked that the proposed 25-space parking lot be moved away from the center of the site and out to Ricciuti Drive. This was done. We also asked that the tipping fees that the MDC will receive from the Big Dig for taking the dirt be devoted first and foremost to ensuring that the shallow wetlands west of the quarry, which dried up during the draining, would be adequately restored. We likewise received some assurances on this point. FBH hopes to participate in an Advisory Committe that will oversee use of these fees, which will be deposited in an MDC trust fund dedicated to the area, and may total $800,000 or more.       But a third item is still outstanding. We asked that the tide gate at the mouth of Black's Creek where it enters Quincy Bay under Wollaston Beach Boulevard be opened, and left open except during coastal storms, so that sediments coming down Furnace Brook from the project will be flushed to the ocean, and won't smother the Creek's shellfish beds and fish-spawning areas. We asked that language to this effect be inserted in the wetlands permit issued by the Quincy Conservation Commission.       Although this matter seemed to take the MDC's consultants by surprise, it has long been familiar to Quincy residents concerned with the health of Furnace Brook and Black's Creek. On many days they have seen the Brook and the Creek running white with Big Dig sediments. All the runoff from Ricciuti Drive and the Furnace Brook rotary comes this way, and the Creek is the first place it slows down.       Indeed, the claim made at the beginning of the Quarry Hills project (in its March, 1997 Environmental Impact Report) that "on- and off-site wetland resource areas will not be impacted by changes in water quality due to the construction and operation of the Recreation Complex" was perhaps never meant to be taken seriously. Most of the 10 million yards of Big Dig excavate that has been trucked to the site is fine-grained "historic fill"--clay and silts that were long ago dredged from the harbor to extend Boston's shorefront. When this material is piled in the open, it is easily mobilized by storms and carried downslope. Anyone who walks the Sawcut Notch path, which runs along a portion of the site's mile-long border with the Reservation, has seen how this gunk migrates into the park. If the MDC were a private owner rather than a state agency, it would doubtless have taken action by now for the damages the Reservation has sustained.       The tide gate at the mouth of Black's Creek, which is jointly controlled by the MDC and Quincy, reduces the normal tidal range in the Creek from nine feet to one foot, and has turned the Creek into a settling basin for Quarry Hills sediments. All the aquatic life in the Creek is affected by the heavy influx of sediments and the lack of tidal flushing. Though the Creek is an MDC park, the agency has never sought compensation or mitigation for the consequent harm to public resources. That's one reason why we raised the issue--to underline the connection between Quarry Hills, Furnace Brook, and the Creek, and to see who would step up to the plate.       But the Quincy Conservation's permit for the Granite Rail Project was issued last week, and it contains no mention of the Creek or the tide gate. It's consistent in this respect with all the Quarry Hills permits, which include no mechanism for addressing off-site impacts, and so endorse the fiction that none have occurred.       That's why we're preparing an appeal of the Granite Rail permit. Though we're sympathetic to the MDC's desire to fill the quarry, we believe it's time somebody took responsibility for the sad state of the Creek. If this brings no response, we will consider filing suit under the federal Clean Water Act (which would require Quarry Hills to pay for damages).       It is the Friends' position that the quarry-filling project could begin tomorrow if the MDC and Quincy are serious about addressing impacts to the Creek. If they're not, we will ask: why aren't they? Tom Palmer