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The Trustee Council received a recommendation
from Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) on reserving funds for future
restoration activities for the the Inner Harbor portion of the site. The
Trustee Council accepted the recommendation.
After consideration of a variety of factors primarily dealing with the site
definition, sources of contamination, the location of injured natural
resources, and unknowns regarding the extent, location and timing or cleanup
activities, the TAC recommended that the Trustee Council not allocate a
specific amount of money to the Inner Harbor for the future. The TAC believed
that a specific allocation would be arbitrary given a variety of unknowns exist
and factors could change over time. The TAC urged the Trustee Council to
continue the event based process adopted in the Restoration Plan which allows
the public and agencies to suggest restoration ideas. Finally, the TAC
recommended that the Trustee Council target 10% of the principal ($2.0 million)
for an allocation for the next round of restoration ideas.
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The Trustee Council will meet with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in
a public forum to discuss the proposed schedule for the harbor cleanup.
Congressman Barney Frank's staff has agreed to set up a forum in which EPA can
present information on the timing of the harbor cleanup. Such information will
assist the Trustee Council in scheduling future restoration rounds and deciding
priorities for those rounds.
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Trustee Council was asked to provide guidance to the public on water quality
related restoration ideas.
In response to the first request for restoration ideas, several ideas related to
water quality and specifically sewer projects were submitted to the Trustee
Council. All were rejected. The public now asks that the Trustee Council
provide further guidance on whether sewer projects would even be considered.
The Trustees asked that their legal counsel explore the issue, determine if any
precedents exist at other natural resource damage sites, and report back to the
Trustee Council by mid-January.
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Community assistance in reviewing restoration ideas requires further
discussion.
A group designated as the Community Restoration Advisory Board, composed of
community representatives, assisted in the review of the first round of
restoration ideas. Previous discussions determined that the review process
would probably be improved by the establishment of a group involving both
community and agency representatives. The TAC endorsed the concept and
recommended that there be one representative designated by each of the four
communities (Acushnet, Dartmouth, Fairhaven and New Bedford) and then four
other representatives representing the various harbor interests. Further staff
work is required before this, or an alternative idea is established.
