Environmental bond bills go to conference committee

The Senate on July 10 passed a $1.9 billion environmental bond bill that would fund capital accounts for land and water conservation, water and wastewater infrastructure, and clean energy and energy efficiency initiatives.

The bill includes $37 million for urban neighborhood parks, $125 million for coastal facility improvements, $62 million for water and air quality protection, including $5 million for the Sustainable Water Management Initiative, and $57 million for the Water Pollution Abatement Trust to replenish the State Revolving Loan Fund for municipal water infrastructure projects.

The bill would also update the municipal Dam and Seawall Loan Fund (Chapter 448), passed last session and supported by the MMA. Chapter 448 originally created a $20 million fund to address critical inland and coastal infrastructure needs in Massachusetts. The House’s environmental bond bill would provide $60 million for the repair or removal of state and municipal dams, while the Senate bill would provide $49 million for dam repair and removal. Both bills would invest an additional $120 million in critical coastal infrastructure projects.

The bond bill also attempts to address some of the MMA’s concerns about costs associated with implementing the proposed Sustainable Water Management Initiative. The SWMI proposes to change Water Management Act permitting to include a new methodology for calculating a river basin’s “safe yield.” It would also establish new biological categorizations and base-water withdrawal thresholds on new streamflow criteria.

The Senate adopted an amendment filed by Sen. Richard Moore that would require the Department of Environmental Protection to submit a final draft of Water Management Act Regulations to the Legislature 30 days before their promulgation. The new WMA regulations are a result of the Patrick administration’s efforts to limit water supply based on new streamflow standards.

“While well-intended, there are many questions yet to be answered regarding the fiscal impact of these water management regulations,” said Sen. Moore. “This provision will not only equip the Legislature with time to review and, if necessary, react to the final regulations, but get us the necessary information to determine the ultimate impact on communities, ratepayers, water systems, and overall economic development.”

The amendment would allow the Legislature to examine the overall costs of these new regulations on communities as well as their effectiveness. The amendment would also require the DEP to conduct a comprehensive review of the impact of its revisions on municipalities within three years after the implementation of the SWMI regulations, and to submit a detailed analysis of communities affected and rate increases required to meet the new regulations.

The MMA has argued that the costs of implementing the SWMI would be borne almost exclusively by ratepayers and taxpayers because it would limit water withdrawals, thereby reducing revenue and imposing additional costs on water suppliers.

The House had previously passed a different version of the bond bill, so the bills now head to conference committee to work out the differences.