Newsletters

March 2009 - Taunton River, Bioreserve, Dominion

WELCOME TO GREEN FUTURES !
MARCH, 2009

“A river is more than an amenity …it is a treasure.”
-Oliver Wendell-Holmes

“Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it.”
-Norman Maclean

Wild and Scenic Taunton River –

The legislation passed by the House and Senate designating the Taunton River as “Wild and Scenic” awaits President Obama’s signature.

It has been a long and complex process, since the late Congressman Joe Moakley first filed legislation in 1999, to get that Taunton River Wild and Scenic legislation to where it is today.

Kudos to the many organizations and individuals who attended meetings, participated in river surveys, wrote letters in support of Wild and Scenic designation and never lost faith that it would eventually happen.

Special “thanks” to local Congressmen Barney Frank and Jim McGovern and Senators John Kerry and Ted Kennedy for guiding the legislation through a minefield of greedy and short-sighted special interests intent on sabotaging the legislation.

The Taunton River is still a mystery to many people living right alongside it. Familiarity may not breed contempt, but it does often lead to indifference. Continuing education is necessary so that all who live along its path appreciate  what a truly unique natural gift we have in the Taunton River.

For starters, the Taunton River’s watershed is the second largest watershed …the Charles River’s is first …entirely within Massachusetts. The Taunton River is the largest contributor of fresh water to Narragansett Bay, beating out second place Blackstone River.

Beginning at the confluence of the Town and Matfield Rivers in Bridgewater, the Taunton River drains the Hockomock Swamp, the largest freshwater wetland in Massachusetts and the Taunton’s extensive watershed includes all or part of 40 cities and towns covering an area of 562 square miles.

One of the few rivers along the east coast without a dam, the Taunton hosts the largest anadromous (fish that run upstream to spawn)  fish runs in Massachusetts and supports a wide assortment of fresh, brackish, and salt water fish species. All, from the mighty sturgeon, king of fishes, to the tiny iridescent native brook trout found in the Taunton River’s cold-water tributaries, help make the river a treasury of piscine biodiversity.

The Taunton River also provides habitat for other indigenous wildlife species, some rare and of special concern. The fastest bird in the world, the peregrine falcon, nests on the Route I-195 Braga Bridge at the mouth of the river. In the Taunton’s Hockomock headwaters, rare bitterns skulk through the swamp reeds and marsh hawks patrol in search of prey.

The Taunton …or Great River …to the early English colonists, was called the Titicut by the native Wampanoags. They used it as a convenient passage and so did the early Europeans, first exploring and then settling along its shores. Our Taunton River figures most prominently in the early settlement of New England. Learning from the Wampanoags, those first English colonists used the river to avoid the deep woods and dismal swamps of southeastern Massachusetts to easily and quickly travel from their base at Plymouth, on Massachusetts Bay, to Massasoit Osamequin’s main village at Montaup (Mount Hope) in what is now Bristol, Rhode Island.

Archaeological research has determined that humans have continuously inhabited the Taunton’s shores for at least 10,000 years. Along the Taunton River’s meandering course, one can clearly see the geologic history of this area of New England, particularly the history of the landforms that were left from the last Ice Age that began over 100,000 years ago.

After Osamequin’s death, his son, Metacomet (King Philip) soon realized the colonists land demands were never ending and that the Wampanoag people would soon be left homeless in their own country. The English, considering themselves “superior” to the local “savages” left Metacomet little choice. The result was what we, today, know as King Philip’s War.

The war began in Swansea and Metacomet and his followers, soon pursued by colonial militia, fled east across to Tiverton and then north to Freetown. At Winslow’s Point on the Taunton River, in the Freetown village of Assonet, was a ferry owned and operated by a local Indian. Fleeing the militia, King Philip, Weetamoe and their warriors crossed the Taunton River on that ferry on July 20, 1675. They then headed northwest into central Massachusetts seeking to enlist the Nipmuck and other tribes to their cause.

A little more than a year later, August 3, 1676, Weetamoe was quietly returning from the north to her home along the Taunton River, but the Taunton Militia got word of her return.  They pursued her along the west shore of the river. In her haste to reach her homeland across the river, Weetamoe drowned while attempting to cross the Taunton on a raft. Her body was found on the Somerset shore the next day.

That short bit of natural and human history is a tiny sampling of what the Taunton River offers. Easy to see that the Taunton River’s Wild and Scenic designation is long overdue and justly deserved.

The Wild and Scenic Rivers Act requires the National Park Service to review all federal actions and federal decisions that might harm the river. Wild and Scenic means the Taunton River should be free from ill-conceived and totally inappropriate projects such as Hess Weaver’s Cove Energy’s massive LNG import and export regasification facility slated for the Taunton River.

We expect, after six years of study after study …all showing the environmental damage and ecological destruction that will occur should the flawed LNG project proceed …that the Wild and Scenic designation will finally mean the end of the LNG battle. We are not naïve; we realize Hess’ billions and their political allies in Washington are already at work attempting to get the National Park Service to declare their project “compatible” with a Wild and Scenic Taunton River. We must stay alert and work with our local, state and federal elected leaders to make sure that does not happen.

We think we hear the scurrilous Hess Weaver’s Cove cabal slowly packing there bags, but in the meantime we will continue to comment on all environmental filings Hess Weaver’s makes with the various state and federal regulatory agencies.

Here are our latest comments on their Water Quality Certification application:

“On behalf of the members of Green Futures, I wish to submit the following comments on the Application for Water Quality Certification for the Weaver’s Cove Energy LNG Offshore Berth Project.

We take issue with the applicant’s assumptions and modeling and question whether the levels of degradation that are predicted by the proponent are allowable in areas already designated as impaired.  The proponent states that their mitigation measures will assure that the project will have no effect on fish and benthic invertebrates.  We request that DEP review all of the assumptions and models to assure that they are based on sound and sufficient data.

Significant mortality that can occur to polychaetes and other benthic invertebrates resulting from dredging of the channel and turning basin (including maintenance dredging) and excavation and backfilling of the pipeline trench, moving of existing water, gas and other utility lines that run across the river, and the winching of the half-mile sections of piping along the bottom of the Taunton River and Mount Hope Bay.

Dredging and trenching can decrease bottom habitat complexity and biodiversity.  The proponent has not addressed how the project will affect such habitat.

The Weaver’s Cove application for Water Quality Certification fails to demonstrate that the project will not result in violation of water quality standards or that the applicant has taken all appropriate steps to avoid and minimize adverse impacts to aquatic life.  We therefore respectfully request that this application be denied.”

Keep the faith, stand with the Taunton River. Together we will beat Hess. Like the timeless river, we will endure.

Conservation Restriction on City Watershed –

After eight long years, the Southeastern Massachusetts Bioreserve is official. The state held conservation restriction on Fall River’s municipal watershed lands was signed and recorded this month.

Fall River held hostage the conservation restriction until they were sure the state would build them an interchange at their industrial land adjacent to Route 24.

This conservation restriction prevents present and future city administrations from selling critical watershed land for development purposes. As example, in the not that distant past, proposals had been made to site, on the Watuppa watershed land directly up against the city’s drinking water supply, a coal gasification plant; a “Chinese” theme park (sounds like another stupid thing Councilor “Chow Mein” Pelletier would endorse); a giant waterslide; massive residential development; football stadium; huge multi-sports complex; breeding and rehabilitation center for race horses; a new solid waste dump; a low-level nuclear waste dump; and the list of cockamamie ideas goes on. Only in Fall River!

Dominion Towers Over the Bay –

Dominion is slated to finally begin, this April, construction of two cooling towers at their Brayton Point Power Station that will end their thermal pollution of Mount Hope Bay.

Instead of sucking in all of Mount Hope Bay and thereby killing vast numbers of aquatic organisms and sending back heated water to kill still more, as they do now, Brayton Point will be using closed-cycle cooling. This is way overdue.

Other than seasonal migratory species, such as striped bass and bluefish, almost all resident and demersal fish species are now rare or absent due to the thermal pollution of their bay home by the Brayton Point Station.

Predecessor owners New England Power and Pacific Gas and Electric’s U.S. Generating fought the EPA for over twenty years to avoid cleaning up the mess they made.

Congratulations to Dominion for doing the right thing.

Some locals don’t like the towers and have labeled them “ugly.” Well, the sheet metal power plant everyone is used to seeing isn’t any prettier.

Don’t like the towers, then close the power plant. Of course, that is not about to happen since it is the largest coal-fired facility in New England and necessary to the grid. Hopefully, expanding alternative energy sources will render that electrical generating station obsolete. That day can’t come soon enough.

Here are our comments to the EPA:

“On behalf of the members of Green Futures, I wish to submit the following comments on Dominion’s Brayton Point Power Station’s permit application.

We are well aware of the environmental and human health problems that result from the harmful effects of air emission pollution and thermal pollution from Dominion’s Brayton Point Power Station.

Some of our members remember how abundant winter flounder were prior to Brayton Point’s Unit 4 going online, with once through cooling, back in 1974. A few years later the flounder population crashed, soon to be followed by virtually all demersal fish species that called Mount Hope Bay and the lower Taunton River home.

After years of stalling and appeals by predecessor owners New England Power and then PG & E’s U.S. Gen, it appears some anti-pollution progress is now being made. Hopefully, a cleaner and more responsible Brayton Point Power will be the result, but only if Brayton Point adopts the best currently available technology to capture particulate matter so that the power plant’s water cooling towers and air emissions meet or exceed the highest air quality standards.

We strongly support the cooling tower program and closed-cycle cooling.

We are aware of a rudimentary proposal from Professor Daniel MacDonald that he’s titled, “An Alternative to Cooling Towers in Mount Hope Bay.”

MacDonald’s proposal not only arrives too late in the process, it totally lacks biological credibility. His proposal fails to address the entrainment and entrapment problems inherent in open cycle cooling. Furthermore, his plan would severely impact, if not completely eliminate, epipelagic life forms that live in the topmost surface layer of Mount Hope Bay; nor would it be beneficial to marine life that engage in vertical migrations … such as squid …creatures that reside close to the bottom during the day, but rise to the surface layer at night to feed on plankton.

As can readily be seen, MacDonald’s “alternative” is not an alternative at all.

We request these improved emission controls and particulate capture methods be included in all necessary permits required for operation and we ask that the DEP conclude this application process as soon as possible so construction of the water cooling towers may begin, as originally planned, in April of this year.

We, the residents living in close proximity to Brayton Point …and the aquatic inhabitants of Mount Hope Bay …thank you for your interest in this matter and request the new permit be as stringent as technology allows.”
 

Dumb Growth –

Continued from last month’s Newsletter …another greedy developer is attempting to benefit solely himself and screw the environment and the rest of us. We’re sure there are some “good” developers out there, but here in southeastern Massachusetts we seem to attract only the scurrilous and greedy.

We are following this closely and will keep you informed as this develops further. In the meantime, here’s our “Fact Sheet” on the proposed development on critically important habitat adjacent to the Bioreserve:

 
The 80-lot subdivision being proposed at the edge of the Bioreserve is a bad deal for Fall River. 

First, it is a bad deal financially.  For every dollar generated by this development, the City would lose, at a minimum, three dollars. While the development might raise approximately $240,000 annually in property tax revenue, services the City would have to provide would cost more than $750,000, every year into the indefinite future.  These added costs include additional teachers and classrooms needed; additional bus routes (the development would be 5 miles away from the nearest school); additional public works costs for snow plowing, trash pickup and road maintenance (the access road alone would be over a mile long); and additional fire and police personnel and vehicles to cover that remote area. 

Since the city is laying-off fire, police and public works personnel, how is the city going to pay for the additional costs generated by this development?  How is it good for Fall River to promote a development that increases personnel costs yet doesn’t generate the income to support these personnel?  The answer is that services to other parts of the city would be cut even further.  All city taxpayers would have to pay, year after year, to accommodate one developer all the way to his bank.

The second reason for opposing this development is that it will threaten the city’s water supply.  The entrance of the steep access road to the development would be only 1,600 feet from the edge of North Watuppa Pond, the city’s water supply, on watershed, Article 97, protected land.  Pollutants draining from this very long road would enter a feeder stream that flows directly into the North Watuppa.  Should an accident happen involving a vehicle or an oil truck, the consequences for the city’s water supply could be disastrous. Allowing access through city watershed land would set a terrible precedent. Why would the city want to put every resident of the city at risk for the financial benefit of one individual?

The third reason for opposing this unnecessary development is that it would violate agreements that the City made as part of the creation of the Southeastern Massachusetts Bioreserve.  It does this in two ways: first, development along the edge of the Bioreserve would violate the Memorandum of Understanding between the City and the Commonwealth.  That MOU not only authorized the transfer of 300 acres of State Forest land to the City for the creation of the Fall River Executive Park but it also committed the City to protecting the perimeter of the Bioreserve through pro-active action.  For the City to sell a parcel of land to facilitate a major development on the edge of the Bioreserve is without question a violation of the MOU, which the City signed in good faith. 

Another reason for not encouraging development in the Bioreserve is that many years went into its creation, and our task now is to protect its perimeter.  The Bioreserve is a superlative accomplishment, for which the residents of the City of Fall River should be justly proud.  It is a gift from this generation to future generations.  Our descendents will not only thank us for it but will marvel at how we accomplished it.

The City should honor the spirit and letter of the MOU because the Bioreserve is the reason that the 300-acre Fall River Executive Park and the new interchange on Route 24 will become a reality.  Neither one would have happened without the creation of the Bioreserve.  The City tried for years to expand its industrial land base by acquiring a part of the Freetown-Fall River State Forest, but these efforts always failed.  However, the opportunity opened up by the Bioreserve allowed for a creative win-win solution that protected critically important watershed land in east Fall River while facilitating the acquisition of the 300 acres of State Forest land for the executive park and the construction of the new interchange.

This subdivision proposal is a losing proposition for the city.  We should not be facilitating a development that has so many negative consequences for the city and its citizens.

Timberdoodles, Mourning Cloaks and Other Signs of Spring –

We spent this past Saturday evening with The Trustees of Reservations and about 40 people observing the mating dance and aerial ballet of the American woodcock.

We had a few males (woodcock, not people) eager to perform and everyone seemed to have a good view of Mr. Woodcock’s evening dance.

Mourning cloak butterflies have also reappeared in area woodlands. The mourning cloak spends the winter hibernating in a hollow tree or other sheltered crevice. The first warm days of March see them flitting about. That’s one tough butterfly!

This week the phoebes are reported back and egrets have returned too. The bald eagle pair at the North Watuppa is incubating their next generation and wood frogs, peepers, and salamanders have returned to the vernal pool of their birth to begun their cycle of life once again.

Spring into Spring. Check out our Calendar for springy things to learn and do out in your natural environment.

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