Legislative Updates


	March 2008 Please support H4446 - the Massachusetts Environmental Bond Bill. MA / RI TU Council supports this bill and urges members to support it as well. >>More Special Event: RALLY & LOBBY DAY SCHEDULED: Mark your calendar! Wednesday, April 9, 2008 at 10 am we need as many people as possible to come to the State House (but gathering first at 5 Joy St.) in Boston to tell the legislature that it must pass the Environmental Bond this session! We will hear from Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Bowles, Representative Frank Smizik and others (possibly including Governor Patrick) and then go meet with our Senators and Representatives in their State House offices. Take Action for the Environmental Bond! Join us on Beacon Hill Wednesday, April 9, 2008 10:00 AM - 1:00 PM Appalachian Mountain Club’s Cabot Auditorium – 5 Joy St. in Boston (steps from the State House.) 10:00 Coffee, donuts, and registration (meet at Appalachian Mountain Club-Cabot Auditorium, 5 Joy St.) 10:30 Rally for bond with Secretary Bowles, Representative Smizik, House and Senate champions Governor Deval Patrick, invited speaker Questions and answers on how to "lobby" the legislature to pass the bond 11:30 Visits to legislators in State House 1:00 Conclusion More information will be sent out soon. As always if you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact the Campaign Manager of the Coalition for the Environmental Bond at Jeremy@MarinStrategies.com Read about the March 19 hearing >here* Key information about the Mass Environmental Bond Bill can be found >here Thank you. Ongoing Issues: Kirt Mayland, Director of Eastern Water Project, TU National provides this update on the Streamflow standards bill as of 3/24/08: The bill was voted out of the Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture Committee a few weeks ago. It is in the Senate Ways and Means Committee at the moment. The bill is also getting redrafted at the moment and more authority for drafting the actual streamflow standards is being given to Fish & Wildlife, as opposed to DEP. We are working with Senator Resor and her staff, the MA Water Works Association, Fish & Wildlife, and the conservation community on this new language. March 2006: Senate Bill 2392 (formerly numbered S.541), entitled “To Protect Natural Streamflows in the Rivers and Streams of the Commonwealth”, which directs the Mass. Water Resources Commission to develop streamflow standards that provide for flows of water sufficient to sustain healthy riverine organisms and habitats, also received a favorable report from the JENRA in March and is currently awaiting further action at Senate Ways and Means. ELM’s water issues page contains a fact sheet on this bill as well. Please Support Senate Bill 541 An Act to Encourage and Promote Water Management What are Streamflow Standards? Streamflow standards generally provide for a sufficient flow of water to preserve and protect the natural aquatic life in rivers and streams. Why does the state need streamflow standards? • Massachusetts reportedly has over 160 “flow-impaired” rivers. This is more than any other state in New England. Water quantity has now become as important an issue as water quality in the state. • Massachusetts is the 3rd most densely populated state in the country and continues to grow. Streamflow standards are essential to managing this growth at a sustainable rate. • There are no benchmarks established in the state for how much water fish and other aquatic life needs to survive. • Streamflow standards are a necessary first step to encouraging water conservation. • Connecticut, Maine and New Hampshire all have laws mandating that streamflow standards be established. What does this Bill do? • The bill mandates that the Water Resources Commission develop streamflow standards that provide for a sufficient flow of water to protect aquatic life and that are based on the natural variation in flows. • The bill does not interfere with the ability of water companies and municipalities to meet their various water supply obligations and allows for the continued and sustainable economic growth throughout the commonwealth. • The bill leaves room for the future creation of basin-specific streamflow standards along with a more comprehensive water allocation policy. LET’S CONTACT OUR LEGISLATORS TO ASKING THEM TO SUPPORT BILL 541 TO PROTECT OUR RIVERS. Older Material dated 2004 Council Member Steve Anger is working on an issue of interest to all holders of a Massachusetts Fishing License. Here is a recent letter he wrote and sent out to the MA Senate Ways & Means and the Joint Committee on Natural Resources. I am writing to you today to enlist your help in a wrong that is being perpetrated on over 300,000 citizens in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. These citizens pay over 9 million dollars per year in fees to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The 9 million dollars allows the Commonwealth to receive matching Federal funds of 3 million dollars per year. However, the Governor has only allocated 7 million of the dollars in the fiscal 2005 budget. On behalf of the 300,000 citizens, voters, and fee paying outdoor enthusiast of the Commonwealth, I am asking that all 12 million dollars of funding be allocated to the Division of Fisheries and Wildlife. Why should the legislature take this bold step? - First, activities that are overseen by the Division, with a Fiscal 2004 Budget of 6.5 million dollars, generated tax revenues to the Commonwealth of 45 million dollars. That is 7 dollars in tax revenue for every dollar spent in the department. Investing 12 million dollars into the Division has the potential to generate 84 million dollars in tax revenue. - Second, a financially strong Division of Fisheries and Wildlife can help generations of future outdoor enthusiasts to be guaranteed clean water, undeveloped tracts of land, and pride in the Commonwealth that will stand as a national model in environmental protection and recreation. - And last, I would appeal to your sense of moral fortitude in allocating fees paid by over 300,000 citizens for the use of the service for which they were paid, in good faith, to the Commonwealth. The Division can stand as a model for what is right with the system of fees that has been forced upon the legislature in these trying times. I stand at the ready to work with you and fellow members of the legislature to do the right thing and to fully fund the Division of Fisheries and Wildlife for Fiscal 2005. I am willing to speak at any hearings where you feel my testimony would be of benefit. Thank you again for your support and we look forward to building a working relationship with you and members of the Great and General Court Sincerely, Steven R. Angers National Leadership Council Trout Unlimited
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