Blue Hills Reservoir Update, October 2004

UPDATE OCTOBER 2004

Over the last year MWRA has gone forward with rehabilitation of its 48-inch steel pipeline running up thru the Reservation to the reservoir from West Quincy even though the agency has not yet received final approval under the MA Wetlands Protection Act to eliminate 8.7 acres of protected wetlands in order to build the proposed concrete storage tanks.

In November, 2003 FBH and 44 Citizens of MA appealed the approval, known as a Variance, and a hearing is scheduled for December.

In permitting the permanent loss of of over half the 16-acre reservoir without compensation, the MA Dept. of Environmental Protection abandoned its own long-standing practice. Since 1999, 15 of 16 Variances awarded for public projects by the Department have required lost wetlands to be replaced on a 1:1 basis.

1. Photos and aerials of similar Middlesex Fells Covered Storage Project recently completed in Middlesex Fells Reservation on Malden/Stoneham line.

2. Aerial showing former Reservation land proposed by FBH to be preserved as mitigation for loss of wetlands at Blue Hills Reservoir.

3. Administrative magistrate orders MA Dept. of Environmental Protection to declare whether or not "no net loss of wetlands" is its policy.

4. FBH prefiled testimony for upcoming hearing on DEP Variance at MA Division of Administrative Law Appeals (117K PDF file w/out exhibits).

FBH
This page maintained by Thomas Palmer/ophis@comcast.net

UPDATE OCTOBER 2004 Over the last year MWRA has gone forward with rehabilitation of its 48-inch steel pipeline running up thru the Reservation to the reservoir from West Quincy even though the agency has not yet received final approval under the MA Wetlands Protection Act to eliminate 8.7 acres of protected wetlands in order to build the proposed concrete storage tanks. In November, 2003 FBH and 44 Citizens of MA appealed the approval, known as a Variance, and a hearing is scheduled for December. In permitting the permanent loss of of over half the 16-acre reservoir without compensation, the MA Dept. of Environmental Protection abandoned its own long-standing practice. Since 1999, 15 of 16 Variances awarded for public projects by the Department have required lost wetlands to be replaced on a 1:1 basis.
1.		Photos and aerials of similar Middlesex Fells Covered Storage Project recently completed in Middlesex Fells Reservation on Malden/Stoneham line.
2.		Aerial showing former Reservation land proposed by FBH to be preserved as mitigation for loss of wetlands at Blue Hills Reservoir.
3.		Administrative magistrate orders MA Dept. of Environmental Protection to declare whether or not "no net loss of wetlands" is its policy.
4.		FBH prefiled testimony for upcoming hearing on DEP Variance at MA Division of Administrative Law Appeals (117K PDF file w/out exhibits).


FBH		This page maintained by Thomas Palmer/ophis@comcast.net