WETLANDS LOSS IS CHALLENGED

Author(s):    Peter Schworm, Globe Staff Date: September 24, 2006 Page: 1 Section: Globe South

A last-gasp legal challenge by a group of environmentalists to an emergency water supply project in the Blue Hills Reservation is now before a Superior Court judge, with state officials urging a quick decision so the stalled plan can proceed.

The Massachusetts Water Resources Authority has drained the Blue Hills Reservoir to build two 10 million-gallon underground water tanks as an antiterrorist security measure. But the Friends of the Blue Hills, an area civic group, has kept the $33 million project tied up in court since the plan received approval from the Department of Environmental Protection in 2003. The project will destroy almost 9 acres of wetlands, but state regulators exempted the MWRA from the policy of replacing the lost environmental habitat, saying the need for a safe water supply took precedence. The Friends of the Blue Hills appealed, arguing it is unprecedented and a dangerous departure from current environmental practice.

At a hearing Tuesday in Norfolk Superior Court, the group's lawyer, Michael Vhay, said state law requires the MWRA to "use all practical means to prevent and minimize damage to the environment."

"That didn't happen here," he said. "This is the first case ever in which the DEP is not requiring one-to-one replication" of destroyed wetlands. The MWRA also did not sufficiently explore alternatives, he argued. The group said filling the reservoir represents the greatest loss of wetlands in two decades, and could open the door to more destruction.

Rhonda Russian, senior staff counsel for the MWRA, said the policy of replacing destroyed wetlands is not a legal requirement, and the project's importance justifies the waiver.

"There is no official net-loss policy," she said. "Even if there were, it would be waived in this case." She said the MWRA will deed the reservoir, a primary drinking water source before it was shut down in 1981 over fears of contamination, to the Department of Conservation and Recreation, which owns the Blue Hills. For that reason, the MWRA cannot add wetlands in other parts of the park, she said.

The MWRA has argued that the reservoir did not qualify as wetlands because it was man-made, and that the agency is spending millions to restore the area.

Two 40-foot-high water tanks will take up about half of the 16-acre reservoir, located in Quincy. They will be covered with soil and grass after construction, and the other half of the reservoir will be refilled after a new dam is built.

Boasting more than 125 miles of trails, the Blue Hills Reservation, the state's oldest park, spans more than 7,000 acres in Canton, Quincy, Milton, Dedham, and Randolph. The storage tanks will serve as a backup water supply for Quincy, Milton, and much of Boston.

The project's importance argued for a speedy decision, Russian argued. Norfolk Superior Court Judge Patrick Brady said he was likely to make a decision sometime next month. The MWRA plans to award the design contract at its Nov. 15 board meeting for the project, expected to take two years.

Tom Palmer, president of the Friends of the Blue Hills, said the group doesn't oppose the project itself, just the MWRA's failure to replace the wetlands, which he said sets a dismaying environmental precedent.

"We think the Blue Hills is the worst place to give up the no-net-loss policy," he said. He said that the project regrettably destroyed an extended view of water and the ridge line, and that he expects construction will permanently mar the landscape.

Palmer said the MWRA replaced wetlands when it built a storage tank along the Massachusetts Turnpike in Weston. He said new wetlands could be created in a corner of the Blue Hills Reservation near Route 128.

In March, several state legislators who represent the region filed a bill requiring the MWRA to comply with the wetlands replacement requirement. The bill is now being studied.

Peter Schworm can be reached at schworm@globe.com.

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