And it just keeps getting worse....

Just the other day I found myself reading....actually reading, line by line the Intergovernmental Agreement between the Wampanoag Indidan Tribe and the Town of Middleboro. I must say, after reading that document closely, I can see why there was such a rush to get this approved. I was really interested in the water usage sections but found myself a bit surprised by much of what this document says. Shortly after, I stumbled upon this statement made by my favorite casino constituent, Factfinder:

Quote -

The casino is not allotted 1.5MGD on average it is allotted 0.75MGD. When you look at sustainability you have to look at long term, not one single day. Plus with Carver getting their water from a different aquifer, it will free up water that was provided by Middleboro to Carver (as the good neighbors we are) for sale elsewhere.

- Factfinder-

Sigh....where does one start? First of all, I am not even going to retort the comment about Carver...that has absolutely nothing to do with the Casino (except that those residents will also be affected) and is just a tactic to focus the true issue elsewhere. I will however make on thing perfectly clear again, North Carver residents and cranberry farmers are on the same aquifer. Factfinder can continue to say that isn't so, but it won't make it true. North Carver residents will be directly impacted.

Okay, now that I have cleared up that little fallacy, the real issue with the above statement, in regards to the casino is the insistence that the casino will be using 750,000 GPD - not 1.5 million gallons per day. I read the agreement and I assure everyone that the agreement does give the tribe an allotment of up to a maximum of 1.5 MGPD, this is based of course, on a day actually being 24 hours....the 750,000 is an an average usage over time - whether it be monthly, quartely or annually.

Quote from the agreement (page 7, section 10: Water Usage)

"The Town shall provide an allotted maximum water volume of up to an average daily volume of 750,000 gallons, with a maximum 24 hour usage of 1.5 million gallons to the Project."

Why the insistance that it isn't 1.5 MGPD when it clearly is - whether they use it all or not isn't the concern...the concern is during those months when water is in higher demand for everyone, it will be used and it will affect everyone else. If you really want to look at aquifer sustainability, you need to look at maximum usage per day as well as overall usage over a given time to determine impacts. Insisting on only using averages as a basis that the aquifer is sustanable for all life, in my opinion, is just another half truth hand fed by a so called "neutral expert".

Oh, but it gets worse....

"The Tribe may explore the potential for on-site water supply for potable consumption and/or irrigation as a means to reduce the Project's demands on the Towns water supply system."

What exactly does that mean? This statement is basically saying that the Tribe can put private wells on the site for water use in addition to the maximum 24 hour usage of 1.5MGPD.

If the tribe puts private wells on the site for potable consumption and/or irrigation, aren't they still taking the water from the same water supply source - the same aquifer? How exactly does that reduce water demands? I mean, they are still taking it, aren't they? This is the aquifer that is recharged by the Taunton River Watershed, the same watershed that has been classified as in "moderate drought" condition by the USGS as I pointed out in a previous blog. Don't get me wrong here, I think it is really nice that they are concerned about the "demands" to the Towns water supply system, but what really bothers me is that these "demands" are more related to the maximum authorized withdrawl limits established by the MADEP Water Management Act (WMA) and not about any real "concern" for the Town's water needs. The fact of the matter is that the Town under current permits does not have the water available for withdrawl to give the Project what it needs. If the Town is unable to re-permit two of it's public wells, and permit two new wells to increase it's daily withdrawl, the Tribe will need to find an alternative source of water....private wells. Let's say the Town is able to get the necesssary permits, the Tribe still has the option to drill private wells on the site anyway while continuting to take 1.5 MGPD from the Town wells. How much water are we talking about here? Two...Three...Four million gallons per day? At this point it is anyone's guess. No one, including Middleboro has even seen a conceptual design for this Project. I just cannot for the life of me understand how anyone can claim that there will be minimal impacts, or say we can mitigate for potential impacts when we don't even know how big this thing is going to be. What we can do though, is closely look at said Agreement between Tribe and Town and show impacts based on the little information we have...and know it will get worse.

And it just keeps getting worse....

Quote from the Agreement (page 2 section 2: Future Land Acquisition)

If the Tribe acquires additional lands beyond those described as the Project Site in Exhibit A and subsequently seeks to place such lands into trust status with the United States, the Parties agree to reopen and negotiate in good faith an amendment to this Agreement to mitigate any impacts of the Tribe's acquisition and development of such lands, provided that nothing in this Agreement shall prevent the Tribe from acquiring such additional lands in fee status.

So......what? Future land acquistions and impacts will be mitigated in "good faith" as written in the Ambiguities clause.

Section 24. General Provisions - Section F (page 14)

The general rule of contract construction that any ambiguity in a contract will be construed against the party drafting such contract shall not apply to this Agreement.

Or is it that same good faith shown recently to the Southeast Region and the State by appealing to the BIA their right to open a casino - using the same sign now or else tact so eloquently pointed out in the recent casino facts blog.


I would like to say that the MADEP Water Management Act was adopted for one reason...to ensure adequate water supplies for current and future water needs - source dep. So under this agreement (assuming the land does go into trust) the Tribe as a sovereign nation using private wells will not need to comply with WMA regulations and they can expand operations.

More expansion means more need for water...as well as more traffic, more pollution, more noise, more lights, more impacts.

That leaves me wondering.....what will happen to all the other communities, as well as wildlife, plant and aquatic life that will be forced to live with these impacts?

Get the real facts at casinofacts.org.

- be the change you want to see in the world -