On behalf of the Mystic River Watershed Association (MyRWA) and their collaborative partner GreenRoots, advocates successfully presented their case to the North American Wetlands Conservation Act (NAWCA) Council, securing an opportunity for Mystic communities to access $1.3 million in restoration funds.
MyRWA Director Patrick Herron and GreenRoots Director Roseann Bongiovanni celebrating their successful argument in Washington, D.C., to return funds to the area.
According to Patrick Herron, the organization’s executive director, “This is an opportunity to repair part of the Mystic River watershed by directing funds that resulted from the spill back to the area where the spill occurred,” “We are excited that our Mystic communities have another shot at this funding.”
A petroleum spill occurred in January of 2006 when approximately 15,200 gallons of petroleum product entered the Lower Mystic River through an ExxonMobil Pipeline Co. terminal in Everett. The US Department of Justice (DOJ) subsequently charged ExxonMobil with violating the Clean Water Act through negligence at the facility. Through a plea agreement signed in 2009, ExxonMobil agreed to pay a fine, cleanup costs, and a community service payment (CSP) totaling $1 million to the Massachusetts Environmental Trust and $4.6 million to the North American Wetlands Conservation Act (NAWCA) fund. The plea agreement specifies that these funds be used exclusively for qualified coastal wetland restoration projects in Massachusetts, with priority given to projects within the Mystic River Watershed. During the plea proceedings, the NAWCA Council and U.S. Fish and Wildlife staff assured the U.S. Attorney’s office and Judge Saris that procedures would ensure the CSP funds were distributed consistently with the plea agreement’s intent.
The Massachusetts Environmental Trust (MET) immediately deployed its allocated funds toward stewardship and water quality improvements throughout the Mystic River Watershed.
However, the Mystic River Watershed has received no NAWCA funds to date. Of the $4.6 million in ExxonMobil CSP money directed to NAWCA, $3 million has already been spent on Commonwealth projects outside the Mystic. The NAWCA Council was planning to allocate the remaining $1.36 million to another non-Mystic project, resulting in zero dollars directed to the watershed.
On December 12, Herron and Roseann Bongiovanni, executive director of GreenRoots, traveled to Washington, D.C., to advocate for channeling the funds to the Mystic. Before the meeting, David Barlow, Gene Benson, and colleagues at GreenRoots and the Conservation Law Foundation prepared and submitted formal comment letters to the Council detailing the fund history and the rationale for prioritizing the Mystic.
Bongiovanni stated that “It was our communities and our waterbodies that were impacted by the spill on that cold January morning and now almost 10 years later, our communities are deserving of the penalty dollars to restore our ecological habitat and bring about environmental justice”