Toxics Action Center, a non-profit advocacy group released a report today called Toxics in Massachusetts: A Town-By-Town Profile.

The report highlights Superfund and other hazardous waste sites as well as landfills and incinerators to alert residents to potential environmental health threats in their communities.

The report can be found here.

By Beth Daley
GLOBE STAFF

Owners of the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Plant today said it has found the source of a radioactive water leak at the plant that was discovered two months ago – and has stopped it.

Engineers found a floor drain in a concrete tunnel clogged with debris and mud, allowing the water to seep through an unsealed joint in the tunnel wall to the soil, and eventually into groundwater. The plant’s owners discovered the leak when it drilled a monitoring well in January as part of an industry-wide effort to find leaks of tritium, a low-level radioactive byproduct in nuclear plants. None of the tritium made it into any drinking water supplies or the adjacent Connecticut River.

The leak has caused a major credibility problem for Vermont Yankee’s owner, Entergy Corporation, as it seeks permission to operate another 20 years. While there have been similar leaks at more than 20 other nuclear plants – many which have been re-licensed – state officials said that Entergy officials misled them on a number of occasions by denying the plant had buried piping that could carry radioactive material.

The Vermont Senate, which has unusual authority to weigh in on the plant’s re-licensing, subsequently voted to prohibit the plant from operating after 2012, when its current license expires. Entergy is still hoping to receive permission to operate another 20 years.

Entergy’s Executive Vice President of Operations, Mark Savoff today said he regretted that the leak occurred, according to a press release from the company. He also announced the company has begun an effort to become an industry leader in tritium leak prevention and detection.

The press release indicated the company believes there are no other leaks at the plant. Starting today, engineers will begin pumping contaminated groundwater into above-ground containers for processing and reuse into the plant. About 150 cubic feet of soil that contains other contaminants will also be removed.

Environmental advocates say they were pleased the leak was found, but still say the aging plant appears to old to continue operating.

“If this is the only leak, I am encouraged that it has been found and stopped,’’ said Sandra Levine, senior attorney for the Conservation Law Foundation, a New England advocacy group. “But the existence of leaks for more than two months is an indication of bigger problems. This is not a plant that appears to be safe and reliable.’’

Earthwatch Institute, an international non-profit, is moving its world headquarters from Maynard to Harvard-owned property in Allston this spring.

The 50-member staff will occupy 15,000 square feet at 114 Western Avenue that once served as the headquarters of WGBH media.

The organization, one of the world's largest private funders of research expeditions - and helps volunteers partake in scientific research - will offer three fellowships for Allston/Brighton public school teachers to join one of its research expeditions to advance public understanding of science and the changing environment. The group also wants to hold lectures, open houses and other outreach to neighboring communities starting in June.

The move to Allston is just one more Harvard connection for the non-profit since 1972, when Earthwatch founder Brian Rosborough was called to support the eclipse expeditions of a Harvard solar astronomer. Since then, nine Harvard scientsts, including E.O. Wilson have served as science advisors.

Earthwatch will host open houses in the new Allston headquarters in June.

Harvard University announced the move today, saying it will help grow green jobs in Boston and will help build stronger ties with Harvard, Allston and Boston.

To learn more:
http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2010/03/earthwatch-comes-to-allston-2/

http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2010/03/charting-the-leatherbacks/

Members of a House subcommittee unanimously approved legislation that would protect the nation's electricity grid from terrorist attack.

The Grid Reliability and Infrastructure Defense Act, as the legislation is known, would direct the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to put measures in place to prevent "telecommunications intrusions" that might jeopardize the electric grid. The legislation was co-authored by Malden democrat Rep. Edward J. Markey, who also chairs the Energy and Environment Subcommittee that passed the act. It now moves to the full Energy and Commerce Committee for approval.

"Right now, our electrical grid is vulnerable to threats from terrorists and hostile countries. Our adversaries have motive, intent, and the capacity to exploit these weaknesses," Markey said in a statement from his office. "Every one of our nation’s critical systems – water, healthcare, telecommunications, transportation, law enforcement, and financial services – depends on the grid."

Boston dropped two spots, to No. 13, on the US Environmental Protection
Agency's ranking of the cities with the most energy efficient buildings.

The rankings are based on the number of buildings with an Energy Star
label. Energy Star is a government-backed program that promotes energy
efficiency. Boston had 74 Energy Star labeled buildings as of last year.

Leading the list were Los Angeles with 293 buildings, Washington, DC with
204 buildings, and San Francisco with 173.

If you missed it, yesterday was World Water Day, established by the United Nations over 15 years ago to focus attention on the obvious need - and problems - of getting clean water to people. In the U.S. , the advocacy group Corporate Accountability International is using the day to tell people to stop buying bottled water. You should have heard the reasons by now: Bottled water isn't better than tap water. The plastic bottles often aren't recycled. It's a waste of money. Corporate Accountability doesn't want anyone drinking bottled water but finds it particularly appalling that taxpayer's dollars are flowing toward that industry as towns and cities buy bottled waters for employees. The issue gained so much traction in Cambridge, city officials stopped buying bottled water and now let employees drink tap water. The group is a highlighting an entertaining video by Annie Leonard, an author who is know for her animated video "The Story of Stuff":

Brona Simon, the state's historic preservation officer, spoke at the final Cape Wind hearing. (Dina Rudick / Globe Staff)

By Beth Daley, Globe Staff

BARNSTABLE -- The state's top historic preservation official told a federal panel tordday that the impact of the proposed Nantucket Sound wind farm on Native American and other historic sites was “unparalleled” in the state’s history.

It was Brona Simon's first public remarks on the Cape Wind project since issuing a formal opinion in November that Nantucket Sound should be listed on the National Register of Historic Places because of its cultural importance to two Indian tribes.

That recommendation, which conflicted with the views of the federal agency overseeing an environmental review of Cape Wind, created a controversy that will culminate in a final decision on the project by US Interior Secretary Ken Salazar next month.

Simon and proponents and opponents of the project testified during a four-hour hearing before the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, a five-member panel advising Salazar. The group will deliver its recommendations to Salazar no later than April 14. He is not obligated to follow the council's advice, only to consider it, and he is expected to make his decision soon after receiving it.

"The magnitude is unparalleled in Massachusetts," Simon, the Massachusetts Historic Preservation Officer, told the council, noting that the 130 turbines will cover an area of about 25 square miles.

Simon said the next biggest project her office has ever reviewed was a highway in Central Massachusetts that encompassed 3.9 square miles. "You can see the concern we have about the adverse effects of the project," she said.

Cape Cod's "maritime setting" is critical to the Wampanoag, she said, and its likely that Native American archeological sites could be harmed by anchoring the turbines to the sea floor. Her comments were met with loud applause from many in the audience of more than 200 people at Cape Cod Community College.

The Mashpee and Aquinnah Wampanoag tribes say that they need an unobstructed view of Nantucket Sound to carry out spiritual sun greetings and that the waterway’s seabed -- which was exposed land thousands of years ago -- is sacred ancestral land that would be disturbed by building turbines on it. Yesterday, the Chappaquiddick Tribe of the Wampanoag Indian Nation also came out against the project.

The Minerals Management Service, the federal agency charged with issuing a permit for the project, cqdisagreed with Simon's November opinion, but the National Park Service -- like the MMS, a part of the Interior Department, agreed, saying the 560-square mile sound was eligible to be listed on the National Register.

At today's hearing, Eleftherios Pavlides, a professor of archeology at Roger Williams University in Rhode Island, an expert in historic preservation, said the wind farm would actually help historic buildings -- by ensuring pollution from coal-burning plants that contribute to acid rain would be replaced by wind energy. Acid rain can pit stone buildings.

Opponents were occasionally loud during the otherwise sedate hearing -- once booing a Cape Wind supporter after she spoke. Many against the project asked whether the project could be moved to an area south of Tuckernuck Island off Nantucket.

“The cultural and historic resources will be diminished,'' Roberta Lane, senior program officer and regional attorney for the National Trust for Historic Preservation, said in urging that the project be moved. She said the turbines will be in the setting of historic properties and "setting is integral to the historic significance of these places."
She said there would also be direct impact to Native American cultural sites.

Salazar has indicated he would not entertain moving the project, which would require Cape Wind Associates, the wind farm developer, to start over in its already-nine-year quest for permits. The developer has said it would be technically unfeasible and expensive to put turbines off Tuckernuck Island. There may also be Native American and other historic concerns there.

Sarah Cote, an employee of Clean Power Now, a group supporting Cape Wind, said she had gotten involved with supporting the project while in high school and said it needed to be built.

“Every place has its own sense of beauty and value," Cote said, noting that the biggest objections to the wind farm have to do with its impact on the view from shore. If the project were stopped on that basis, she said, “it would set a negative precedent.”

Falmouth selectman Ahmed Mustafa, a Cape Wind supporter, said he trusted the advisory panel to make the right recommendation. "As you know, the whole earth is historic,'' he said.

By Beth Daley

Globe Staff

 

In the nine years since the 130-turbine wind project in Nantucket Sound was first proposed, the arguments have gotten familiar.

 

Yet they are no less passionate, and this afternoon, proponents and opponents will converge on Cape Cod Community College for what is believed -- really -- will be the last public hearing before a final federal decision on Cape Wind.

 

The hearing is to determine whether the 560-square-mile Nantucket Sound should be listed on the National Register for Historic Places, as Native Americans say it should.

 

Two Wampanoag tribes say they need an unobstructed view of the horizon to carry out age-old traditional ceremonies and also say the bed of Nantucket Sound -- exposed thousands of years ago -- are ancestral grounds.     

 

 

The Massachusetts Historic Preservation Officer agrees with the Wampanoag that it should be listed. The federal Minerals Management Service, an Interior Department agency that has been in charge of issuing permits for the project, says it shouldn’t. If the Sound is listed, it could make it more difficult to build there.

 

Now, in order to help US Interior Secretary Ken Salazar make a final decision, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation is holding a four-hour public hearing today to advise him what he should do.

 

Placards and protests are expected. We’ll keep you posted.

 

PHOTO: US Interior Secretary Ken Salazar visited Nantucket Sound recently.  (Globe photo)

 

At my old house, we had a metal coffee container full of keys that had collected there through the years. We didn't know what to do with them, so we just let them sit and collect dust. Turns out, it was a good plan, since I happened upon an innovative key recycling program while shopping at Whole Foods.

A local non-profit, Key for Hope, collects old keys and melts them into scrap metal for recycling. They take the money earned from selling the metal and donate it to a local food pantry. A few Whole Foods in the area (see the list below) have teamed up with Key for Hope to raise money for food pantries in their towns. Key for Hope also has collection spots at various retailers across Massachusetts; check their website for a list of locations.

Not only was I able to get rid of our keys, but I organized a key collection campaign at my work. We received over 2,000 keys in two weeks! So, clean out those junk drawers and donate your old keys to a good cause (or, better yet, set up a key drive at your school or office- it's as easy as putting out a box and sending an email). 

Whole Foods stores participating in the key drive:

• Medford
  
• Prospect Street, Cambridge
• University Heights, Providence
• Walnut Street, Newton
  

For the first time, satellite transmitter technology is allowing the public to follow two adult Westport ospreys as they leave their winter homes in Cuba and along the Venezuela/Colombia border and head to Southeastern Massachusetts.

 

Hudson, a 13-year-old osprey who summers on the west branch of the Westport River left South America on the morning of March 9 and was just below Jacksonville Florida as of March 16.

 

Ozzie, who winters along the south coast of Cuba, is still soaking up the sun there. Ozzie summers on the east branch of the river.

 

In previous years, Mass Audubon, which tracks the birds, had to watch their nests to see when they would arrive. But now, the technology will not only help them know when the birds arrive likely this month, but how long it took each bird to get to their breeding grounds.

 

You can follow Hudson’s and Ozzie’s trip north on the Westport Osprey website at www.westportosprey.org. The osprey migration maps are updated every three days.

 And you can also vote as to which osprey you believe will first arrive. (The map shows Hudson's journey in recent days and pinpoints where Ozzie is hanging out in Cuba.) 

Westport, Massachusetts is home to one of the more significant breeding populations of osprey in North America, thanks in large part to Gil and Jo Fernandez, who, over 40 years, installed nearly 100 breeding platforms in the Westport River and Allens Pond. Since 2002, Mass Audubon’s Allens Pond Wildlife Sanctuary and the Westport River Watershed Alliance have joined forces to maintain these platforms and monitor the breeding activity of about 80 pairs of osprey.

Now the two ospreys outfitted with transmitters will allow the two conservation organizations to learn more about where the Westport osprey catch their fish locally and where they migrate in the winter.

One year ago this month, thousands of cities and millions of individuals turned off their lights for one hour to show support for climate change action. The fourth annual Earth Hour, a global event created by the World Wildlife Fund, will be held less than two weeks, on Saturday March 27 at 8:30 pm local time. This event is not only a symbolic act to demonstrate the urgency of climate change, but is also intended to prompt action and advocacy beyond Earth Hour. As of last week, 92 countries and regions had pledged to participate this year.

In the city of Boston, Mayor Menino has committed to the event and has invited residents to participate. Earth Hour ties in to the Lights Out Boston program, in which building managers can voluntarily commit to turn off non-essential lighting between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. until May 31. To find other local Earth Hour initiatives, check out the Boston Earth Hour Facebook page.

Consider signing up as an individual to turn off the lights in your home, then spread the word to encourage your friends, city, school, organization, or business to join others in Massachusetts and worldwide. The Earth Hour website provides 'how to' guides and social media toolkits to help various types of groups support and promote Earth Hour on March 27.

Check out last year's Boston.com posts on the 2009 Earth Hour:

Earth Hour 2009 - photos; Boston landmarks to go dark for climate campaign; Boston buildings, landmarks to go dark tonight for Earth Hour

The latest edition of the Edible Boston magazine just arrived in restaurants and mailboxes across the Boston area. If you haven't seen this gorgeous, quarterly magazine, or one of its sister publications, you should pick one up at the various restaurants and stores that stock them for free (or subscribe and get them hot off the press).

We're lucky enough to have six of the 60+ Edible Communities magazines in our area: Edible Boston, Edible Cape Cod, Edible Pioneer Valley, Edible South Shore, Edible Vineyard, and Edible Rhody. The magazines are one of the most beautiful I've ever subscribed to. From the stunning cover photographs to the matte paper that is so much classier than traditional glossy paper, the magazine can't sit on my table more than a day before I read it cover to cover. The local focus has opened my eyes to the numerous restaurants, chefs, products, and stores in our area that care as much about locally-grown, sustainable food as I do.

All of the magazines have a strong online presence, so you can always what's going on in your area via the web, email newsletters, Facebook, and Twitter (check their websites, above, for more information).

The magazines' philosophy is best summed up by a quote from Thomas Merton that Edible Boston publisher and editor Ilene Bezahler ended her editor's letter with:

"From the moment you put a piece of bread in your mouth you are part of a world. Who grew the wheat? Who made the bread? Where did it come from? You are in a relationship with all who brought it to the table. We are least separate and most in common when we eat and drink."

Several Massachusetts organizations have partnered to launch a campaign that encourages the state's residents to pledge to reduce their electricity costs by 5% before the 40th anniversary of Earth Day on April 22.  The goal of the Commonwealth Challenge is not only to save 100,000 kWh of electricity, but to influence legislation.   A recently proposed bill, "An Act to Create a Repower Massachusetts Emergency Task Force," sets a goal to create a task force to pursue 100% clean electricity and increase the number of green jobs in Massachusetts by 2020.

Once you pledge to reduce your electricity use, you can track your utility usage through a free web-based tool - Wattzy.  You can also take advantage of a free energy audit of your residence and free air sealing (even if you rent rather than own), which is provided through Next Step Living and the MassSAVE program.  If you're interested, you'll also be able to use rebates for further work to retrofit and weatherize your home or apartment, provided by contractors who have signed a "Green Collar Hiring Pledge."  Consider taking the Commonwealth Challenge pledge to reduce your utility costs and make your home more comfortable, while reducing the greenhouse gas impact of homes and buildings and helping drive important legislation to make Massachusetts a leader in addressing climate change.

He was one of the first successful, unmanned, free-swimming ocean robots. But now, the 15-year-old autonomous benthic explorer – beloved ABE to those that designed, built and operated him at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution – is gone, lost off the coast of Chile in the early hours of last Friday.

On its 222^nd dive, researchers on the vessel Melville lost all contact with the autonomous vehicle. Best guess what happened? A catastrophic implosion of one of the glass spheres used to keep ABE buoyant. If that happened, the pressure at 1.86 miles down - two tons per square inch - would have caused all of ABE’s other spheres to implode, leaving it unable to surface and destined to remain forever at sea.

ABE was brought out of retirement (its replacement, Sentry, was on another expedition) for the trip to the Chile Triple Junction, the only place on Earth where a mid-ocean ridge is being pushed beneath a continent in a deep ocean trench. On ABE’s first dive, it detected evidence of hydrothermal vents and was journeying to it again on its second dive.

The loss had nothing to do with earthquake activity off Chile, researchers said.

ABE, launched in 1995, ushered in a new era of deep sea vehicles that could operate without a tether to the surface, according to researchers. It “revolutionized deep-sea exploration by expanding scientists’ abilities to reach into the deep,” said Chris German, National Deep-Submergence facility chief scientist and a co-chief scientist for the Chile Triple Junction expedition.

ABE could stay under water for up to a day and ventured into some of the remote and risky places on earth, making detailed maps of mid-ocean ridges and was the first autonomous vehicle to locate hydrothermal vents.

 

So beloved was ABE, the editors of Wired magazine in 2006 called it one of their 50 best robots ever, a mix of real and fictional robots.

 

“ABE was a vehicle that we’ll always have fond memories of— it was a world-beater in its day,” German said. “In a way, it’s fitting that its demise comes on the job.”

 

 

PHOTO COURTESY OF WHOI

I always think of maple syrup as a Vermont product, but it turns out, it's made right in my backyard. Groundwork Somerville and friends are celebrating "Maple Month" by organizing their annual Maple Syrup Boil Down on Saturday, March 13th from 10-4 at the Somerville Community Growing Center (22 Vinal Ave).

Volunteers tap local maple trees throughout February, and the syrup is boiled down over two days (Friday with local schoolchildren and Saturday with community members). Can't make it this weekend? Find a demonstration or sugar house in your area. 

Learn more about maple syrup in Massachusetts, including how to make your own! 

With temperatures in the 50s in the Boston area this weekend, many local residents have been flocking outside, basking in the relatively warm sun, and already dreaming of summer days and outdoor activities.  In such a dense area, urban parks such as Boston Common and the Emerald Necklace not only provide space for recreation on nice days such as today, but also bring vegetation into a landscape of concrete and asphalt, reduce heat island effect, and often provide habitat for wildlife.

This summer, Boston students will have the opportunity to learn about the stewardship of one of Boston's newest open spaces.  The Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway Conservancy's Green and Grow program will provide part-time summer internships for Boston residents between the ages of 17 and 20.  For eight weeks in July and August, participants will gain hands-on, outdoor experience in horticulture and maintenance of over one mile of connected parks in the heart of downtown Boston. 

See the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Green and Grow webpage for further details. Applications for the program are open until April 5.

You’ve probably heard of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch – that vast concentration of plastic litter trapped by ocean currents in the Pacific Ocean. Now, researchers at the Woods Hole-based Sea Education Association have found a garbage patch of our own in the Atlantic.

The organization, which runs undergraduate sailing oceanography programs, has been towing nets in the western North Atlantic Ocean from Newfoundland to Venezuela for 22 years. Students have made more than 6,000 tows, pulling up nets to count marine organisms - and plastics - in them, and carefully recording the data.

Their data shows while a whopping 62 percent of the tows contained plastic, researchers consistently saw one area with the highest concentrations: Due east of Atlanta in the western Sargasso Sea.

The exact size of the patch is unknown but the plastic is likely gathering for the same reason the garbage is in the Pacific: Because of gyres, or rotating ocean currents that trap the waste. And while you may expect to see plastic bags and milk jugs floating in a garbage ocean dump, most of the plastic is in tiny bits, broken down by the ocean and elements. Some of the material marine debris but most are plastics that make up common household products from straws to milk jugs.

It’s pretty clear to researchers some land garbage is getting in the sea. And that’s a problem: Plastics can soak up harmful chemicals that fish and seabirds can eat and accumulate. And sometimes, humans eat the contaminated fish.

 “We really decided to look at this more closely,’’ said Kara Lavender Law, Sea Education Association’s oceanography faculty scientist. Lavender and Sea Education colleague Giora Proskurowski recently presented their findings at the Ocean Sciences meeting held by the American Geophysical Union in Oregon. “I don’t know of any such potentially important work that was primarily collected by undergraduates,’’ said Lavender Law.

They also found that the amount of plastic remained constant in their tows even though production and disposal of plastics increased in that time. On other cruises in the Pacific, the researchers found that the plastic isn’t all at the surface – the small pieces appear to go down for tens of feet.

In June, the researchers will launch the first-ever expedition dedicated solely to examining the accumulation of plastic marine debris in the North Atlantic. The trip will explore an area southeast of Bermuda that may be an extension of the plastic patch the organization just identified.

 

PHOTO CREDIT/NASA AND DOD

Remember those great white sharks that swam so close to shore last summer officials closed some Cape Cod beaches?

At least two - and likely a lot more - are enjoying the warm water off Florida this winter, according to new research. And indications are they'll be back.

The sharks' whereabouts are being transmitted to state marine biologists from electronic tags they managed to affix on five of the mysterious, fierce creatures last September, providing some of the first ever data on the Atlantic Ocean travels of great whites. A third shark's data is being transmitted now.

New England waters have long been known to host the occasional great white -- the iconic species made famous in the movie Jaws -- but they were considered rare visitors. The new findings, however, come as an increasing numbers of the sharks have been seen closer to shore in recent years, perhaps to feed on growing colonies of gray seals that are populating the coast.

"These two sharks have turned out to be snow birds,'' said State Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs Ian Bowles at a press conference in front of the shark tank at the New England Aquarium. "I'm hoping that the tags still on other sharks will tell us more about the travels of these great creatures."

Greg Skomal, a shark expert with the state Division of Marine Fisheries said he expected at least one of the sharks to go offshore, as better-studied Pacific and African sharks do. But the sharks hugged the coast and traveled 1,000 miles south in two months to hang out in waters off Jacksonville, Fla. He said sharks deep-dived to 1,500 feet at times on their travels.

"We are just beginning to understand them,'' said Skomal. "What is their size and population? That is a big blank."

Check out the first in a series of DIY talks at the Museum of Science tonight. Susan Orlean, the author of the The Orchid Thief, will talk about raising chickens. The event is free but seating is limited and on a first come, first serve basis. Check out the website for more information.

Future events in the series include:
How to make (almost) anything, March 10
Planting the seeds, April 28
Food, glorious food: our palate versus the planet, May 7

There is a striped bass debacle unfolding in Massachusetts and along the East Coast. Young striped bass from the Chesapeake that migrate here each year are declining – and just about everyone is pointing the finger at everyone else as the cause. I wrote about it recently here.

To solve the problem, some recreational fishermen say ban commercial catches. Some commercial guys say ban the recreational catch. Meanwhile, there is evidence that the fish’s food – menhaden and herring – may be disappearing while there is anecdotal evidence that the some fish may be spending more time in federal waters where they are currently banned from being caught. What to do?

About 40 students at a Brown University Politics of Food course prove there are no easy answers. Class instructor, political science and public policy professor Ross Cheit, recently paired with Bruce Berman of Save the Bay in Boston and an instructor in marine science, management and public policy at Boston University, to talk fish.

After learning about the problem, students each took on a role: Striped bass commercial fishermen; recreational ones, regulatory groups, states and conservation interests. Then, they were asked to write a response about what proposal would help the constituency they were representing, which would be best to protect the fishery and how they would reconcile the two.

Answers were thoughtful, smart and, like the debate going on outside the classroom, all over the map. Some groups wanted stricter conservation measures. The person playing the New York fishing state manager wants to ban all recreational catches. Others say open up federal waters. Many say more research.

In fisheries, as in life, there are no easy answers - even if everyone agrees there is a problem. The trick will be for real life regulators however, to come up with one before the beloved striped bass population numbers could crash again.