Blue Hills Reservoir Update, July, 2005

News from the Friends of the Blue Hills

Blue Hills Reservoir Update - July, 2005

     As many of you know, in November 2003 Friends of the Blue Hills appealed the wetland permit allowing MWRA to eliminate over half of the 16-acre Blue Hills Reservoir on Chickatwawbut Road in Quincy by filling it with two cylindrical concrete water tanks each 43 feet high and 240 feet in diameter.

     We appealed the permit because the agency that issued it, the MA Dept. of Environmental Protection, did not require MWRA to replace the eight acres of clean open water that would be lost, contrary to the commonwealth's "no net loss" wetlands policy.

     We filed our closing argument on the appeal in March and are awaiting a decision by Administrative Law Magistrate Mark Silverstein. In the meantime we asked our members to contact their legislators in support of our position, and many of you did. Here is the latest fruit of that effort, a letter to MWRA from Representative William Galvin of Canton. We very much appreciate it!

     At a MWRA Brd of Directors meeting on June 29, Boston member Vincent Mannering noted that the reservoir tanks were on the agency's capital project list for coming year, and asked if they were going forward. Replying for the agency, Michael Hornbrook said the tanks were included in the event that the judge did not require replacement of lost wetlands.

     This is consistent with earlier statements by MWRA Advisory Brd that the project would become too costly if wetlands had to be replaced.

     FBH believes that the wetlands should be replaced, as has been required of every other large public project in the commonwealth for at least 12 years. We hope the judge's ruling will reflect our state's long-standing commitment to wetlands protection.

     More information.
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News from the Friends of the Blue Hills
Blue Hills Reservoir Update - July, 2005
As many of you know, in November 2003 Friends of the Blue Hills appealed the wetland permit allowing MWRA to eliminate over half of the 16-acre Blue Hills Reservoir on Chickatwawbut Road in Quincy by filling it with two cylindrical concrete water tanks each 43 feet high and 240 feet in diameter. We appealed the permit because the agency that issued it, the MA Dept. of Environmental Protection, did not require MWRA to replace the eight acres of clean open water that would be lost, contrary to the commonwealth's "no net loss" wetlands policy. We filed our closing argument on the appeal in March and are awaiting a decision by Administrative Law Magistrate Mark Silverstein. In the meantime we asked our members to contact their legislators in support of our position, and many of you did. Here is the latest fruit of that effort, a letter to MWRA from Representative William Galvin of Canton. We very much appreciate it! At a MWRA Brd of Directors meeting on June 29, Boston member Vincent Mannering noted that the reservoir tanks were on the agency's capital project list for coming year, and asked if they were going forward. Replying for the agency, Michael Hornbrook said the tanks were included in the event that the judge did not require replacement of lost wetlands. This is consistent with earlier statements by MWRA Advisory Brd that the project would become too costly if wetlands had to be replaced. FBH believes that the wetlands should be replaced, as has been required of every other large public project in the commonwealth for at least 12 years. We hope the judge's ruling will reflect our state's long-standing commitment to wetlands protection. More information. ___________________________________________________________________________ You have received this message because you are on the Friends of the Blue Hills email list of members and other interested parties. If you have any comments, corrections to this list, or would like to be removed from it, please click here.