Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Inspiring TRWA meeting in Taunton

Curt Spalding, of Save The Bay, Engages Activists to Protect America's Estuaries


Curt Spaulding, Executive Director of Save The Bay in Providence, gave a wonderful speech at the 19th annual Meeting of the Taunton River Watershed Alliance (TRWA) held at First Parish Church, Church Green, in Taunton, on Wednesday, November 8th.

Curt spoke with passion about the ecological link between the Taunton and Narragansett Bay. He spoke of his networking with environmental groups around the country to bring greater public attention -- and respect -- for the estuary zone which is so critical to all life.

Curt has been Executive Director of Save The Bay since 1991, and is regarded as a national leader in estuary and watershed restoration. Save The Bay is one of the largest environmental groups in New England, with 40 staff and 20,000 members.

Save The Bay and the TRWA have both benefited from a strong collaborative working relationship over the years. The Taunton Watershed is the largest watershed contributing fresh water to Narragansett Bay—and therefore one of the largest potential sources of nutrients and other pollutants. Narragansett Bay, one of the most productive estuaries in the world, returns anadromous fish that spawn and support the full web of ecosystem life in our Taunton watershed.

Friday, August 04, 2006

Don't Give Up The River!

With the issuance of a state environmental certificate, we are all one step closer to the prospect of huge tanker ships bearing flammable Liquefied Natural Gas through Mount Hope Bay and the mouth of the Taunton River – past thousands of homes and businesses, highways, and fishing grounds – leaves one gasping for breath. The years of discussion, revisions, and dueling are exhausting for all, but we urge all involved to stay the course and continue to fight this misguided and dangerous proposal.

The Massachusetts Secretary of Environmental Affairs has ruled that Weavers Cove must satisfy the Department of Environmental Protection and the Office of Coastal Zone Management on several key issues related to water quality, use of the public tidelands and coastal policy. The Secretary strongly suggested that Department of Environmental Protection should re-open the public hearing on water quality impacts, a step that will give citizens another opportunity to comment on the disastrous effects of dredging the river to make way for LNG tankers.

The outcome of the poorly conceived Weaver’s Cove Energy project is not certain. Rhode Island has enacted a law that prevents the transport of LNG cargoes through the Bay by expanding the required security zone to 1,000 feet. Representative Robert Correira and Senator Joan Menard have been working to get similar protections in the Bay State. Governor Mitt Romney has gone on the record opposing the Fall River LNG proposal. However, he is concerned that legislation on his desk would restrict the state’s current LNG facility in Everett. If the Governor vetoes the bill or sends it back to the House for changes, Fall River legislators should work out a solution or file a new bill that could be taken up after the November elections.
At a critical time for the Taunton River – the Aquaria water plant in Dighton is also moving through final permitting, the City of Brockton has agreed to clean up its large wastewater treatment plant, and the Brayton Point power plant in Somerset has been ordered to vastly improve its environmental performance – to allow the LNG terminal would be a massive step backwards.

On the regulatory front, several state and federal permits must still be obtained by those proposing this dangerous misappropriation of the public’s waterways.

Next up: although the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has signed off on the Weaver’s Cove plan, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Coast Guard have not. The Coast Guard is grappling with the navigation issues and the Army Corps will have to approve the dredging plans. Lawsuits have also challenged the project.

As currently proposed, Weaver’s Cove has refused to cut back on dredging when anadromous fish return to the sea in the fall. It is misguided and ineffective to protect the parent fish migrating upstream in spring if the young of the year will not be able to reach the ocean come fall because giant dredges are stirring up sediment across nearly the entire width of the river in Fall River.

We believe Weaver’s Cove so-called “mitigation” measures will not protect the species in the River and utterly fail to address the impact of three years of dredging 191 acres of river bottom.

Weaver’s Cove also contends that the future operation of the terminal, and the regular churning of the river bottom by ships entering & leaving, would have no impact on fish and shellfish. This head in the sediment attitude must be challenged.

Around New England and eastern Canada, other LNG proposals are also being considered. One LNG terminal is already under construction in Canada. Our region does need clean, reliable energy but LNG tankers through the City of Fall River are not the answer. Weaver’s Cove should be compared to the other available sites and a decision reached on the public benefits and the worst-case scenario of each location rather than giving carte blanche to the for-profit companies seeking to serve the region. A special commission of the Massachusetts legislature recently recommended that a proposal for one of the Boston Harbor Islands at least deserves further study.

The Taunton River Watershed Alliance is part of the Taunton River Watershed Campaign, a coalition of eleven conservation and planning organizations working to preserve the landscape and natural resources of the watershed. Five campaign organizations [Save the Bay, Taunton River Watershed Alliance, The Nature Conservancy, Mass Audubon, and the Jones River Watershed Association] filed written comments last month strenuously opposing the dredging of the estuary of the Taunton River to create a turning basin for LNG tankers.

DEP should reopen the public hearing to address concerns about water quality and the loss of public waterfront and Governor Romney should sign the bill setting reasonable set-backs for ships carrying LNG cargoes.

Karen Augeri Benson
TRWA Advocacy Attorney

Kate Kilguss
TRWA Executive Director

Susan Speers
Taunton River Watershed Campaign

Monday, June 19, 2006

Bigger Ripples for Your Local Advocacy

I spent Saturday in the company of nearly 200 individuals who are committed to social change - and came home energized! The occasion was the 7th annual conference, at U-Mass Boston, of the Organizer's Collaborative, a non-profit association of tech wizards - and the rest of us who work in the trenches for social justice, the environment, and other causes.

The combination of brain power, technical imagination, and activists produced a real high - a vision that by using the Internet to pull in the many people who CARE about the Taunton River - but may not know WHY they are needed or HOW to help - we will SAVE THE TAUNTON!

For those of you who are already on line reading this and want to know how to help, please visit our page called "The Ripple Effect" at Campaign.SaveTheTaunton.org website.

I've started a list of awesome Web 2.0 tools that you can see at my "del.icio.us" page of links: http://del.icio.us/TauntonWatershedCampaign

In the meantime, if you want to sign on to our Citizens Network, please email campaign@savethetaunton.org!

Tuesday, April 18, 2006

Voices for the Watershed

Do you have a story to tell about a favorite place in the Taunton River Watershed?

Do you have photos that you've taken that illustrate the parklands, protected open space, farms, and woodlands of our watershed? Please call the Campaign at 1-866-393-TRWA or email us and share your stories and photos.

We are building content for the website and printed materials and hope to include photos of the major tributaries of the Taunton. There are 9!

Heading upstream from the mouth of the Taunton:

The Assonet
The Segregansett
The Three-Mile
The Mill
The Forge
The Nemasket
The Winnetuxet
The Matfield
The Town

The Taunton River is formed by the confluence of the Matfield and the Town Rivers.

We also have a "lost" or buried tributary in Fall River, originally named for the waterfalls at the Quequehan River, which now is underground. See the website of Green Futures for more info on this urban tributary, which is canoeable in its upper reaches.

Each of the major "tribs" has a number of smaller rivers and named streams which contribute.
The Mill River, for instance, which joins the main stem in Taunton, is made up of the Canoe River and waters in Winnecunnet Pond, Watson Pond and Lake Sabbatia. The Three-Mile River is made up of the Wading and the Rumford Rivers.

Friday, March 17, 2006

Please visit our website

The Taunton River Watershed Campaign
is a partnership of conservation and planning organizations
working to protect critical land and water resources
of this watershed in southeastern Massachusetts.

Please visit our website
For more information, use our toll-free hotline
1-866-393-TRWA
or email the campaign at:
campaign@savethetaunton.org