In February 240 of our constituents contacted Environmental Secretary Ian Bowles’ office asking that the wetlands be replaced. In March they received letters stating that he was “awaiting the court’s decision,” even though there was no action pending. In April we were told Bowles would not intervene and that there would be no explanation.
In May and June we wrote the governor with the same request, as did over 500 Reservation users via postcards. The response? Complete silence–the proverbial pin-dropping kind. The governor’s web page says “Please include your phone number on any written correspondence to facilitate a prompt response.” In the meantime MWRA started construction.
It’s not as if wetlands replacement is controversial. It has been a routine feature of every public project for decades. Our request was seconded by the mayor of Quincy, the Quincy and Milton conservation commissions, and most of the legislators whose districts include portions of the Blue Hills, as well as sixteen statewide environmental organizations. Requiring MWRA to do right by the Reservoir, which has been part of the Reservation since 1896, would offend no one but the MWRA and its contractors. By the way, MWRA has yet to assemble any public support for the giant tanks, despite frequent (and unconvincing) claims that they’ll protect us from terrorists–not a single elected official has endorsed the project.
We don’t doubt that Patrick has many new ideas about how to green up Massachusetts. But we wish he would stand behind that oldie-but-goodie called wetlands protection, and give us something to celebrate in the Blue Hills.
If letters are being ignored, you need to talk to someone who can talk to someone. Did anyone in the group work on Patrick’s campaign or have some other connection to him?
Yes, we had more than one Patrick precinct captain among the 500+ who signed postcards for us. That didn’t get us a phone call.
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Yesterday we received a letter from Environmental Secretary Ian Bowles repeating bogus MWRA claims that we exposed long ago (there is no public access to the Reservoir; wetland habitat will not suffer when over half is filled*).
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In our view the Blue Hills Reservation is a historical masterpiece of park-making that deserves better than to become a convenient location for the abandonment of environmental standards.
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I recall that in Gulliver’s Travels the Brobdingnagians told Gulliver that they never knew what he was saying ‘cos his voice sounded like “the squeaking of mice.”
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*DEP’s reviewer, commenting on this remarkable notion, said “”This finding would only be valid if both habitats were the same size after the project. In the case of this project, 8.7 acres of land under water habitat will be lost.”