On the other hand …others will say, if any endangered or threatened species are present there is no need to fret….casino developers have found a way around that! Why, just move ‘em somewhere else….eeesh, doesn’t that sound familiar!
Now before I get a bunch of comments about the latest Enterprise story….I know…I can read! According to the division of fisheries and wildlife, the red bellied cooter is reported as not being on the proposed site.
Lisa Capone, a spokesperson for the division of fisheries and wildlife said “the red bellied cooter, listed as endangered by both the state and federal government, is nearby, but not on the site. There are five species of concern found within the area, but only one mapped on the site.”
Yes, well here is another quote worthy of mention. It is from an actual biologist, not a spokesperson, from the division of fisheries and wildlife regarding the red-bellied cooter.
“we can’t save the species just with regulations, we need to have people behind them” - - Peter Mirick – biologist for MA Division of Fisheries and Wildlife
Gee….I really like the way Mr. Mirick thinks!
That “one” species of special concern that Ms. Capone is so quick to dismiss is the eastern box turtle…and too bad for him!! Although the State lists the eastern box turtle as a species of special concern, the Federal Government does not. Now, I understand that “eastern box turtle” isn’t nearly as cool of a name as the red-bellied cooter, but you would think that the Federal Government would at least recognize the fact that there is concern for their survival in our region – on that site. So here is my question:
will the proposed casino push these poor critters over the edge into endangered land?
I think so…and not because I want to use the box turtle as a casino stopper…I am not that naïve…but because the number one reason species become endangered, threatened, or are listed as of special concern is because of habitat destruction. How much of the box turtle habitat will be destroyed to put in a mega resort casino? Apparently this question should be of no concern to all us critter lover’s…the casino developers have come up with a mitigation plan to solve this impact....We will just move them somewhere else…problem mitigated!
I’m sorry, call me a treehugger, an environut or whatever you please, but I just can’t agree with the “just move them somewhere else” mitigation plan for people or for our species of special concern.
Gosh, it reminds me of the idea of manifest destiny…only this time around, it is the environment that is being displaced – all in the name of entertainment and money. It almost seems as if the ideology of manifest destiny has folded in on itself right here in beautiful Massachusetts in the form of mega resort casinos.…take over and develop the land…..move the critters out, heck, move yourself out if you don’t like it....there is nothing you can do…casinos in Massachusetts are inevitable.
Well, I don’t think casinos are inevitable…and I certainly don’t think that a casino in Middleboro is a done deal. I also don’t think that resort casinos will help, never mind solve, our fiscal woes. Nor will they invigorate the economy, provide job stimulus and growth, pay for roads repairs and improvements, lower our property taxes or maintain our quality of life as we enjoy it now. Ah, that wonderful southeast Massachusetts quality of life…
Now where was I…oh yes…the red-bellied cooter – or lack there of! Okay, so the red bellied cooter, according to MA Division of Fisheries and Wildlife, isn’t on the site…does that make this endangered species issue just go away? I would hope not. The fact is, not only does the eastern box turtle purportedly live on the proposed casino site, the red-bellied cooter is apparently struggling for survival in the Nemasket River which is in the Taunton River Watershed.
The impact from the casino lies in the fact that the Middleboro wastewater treatment plant, which discharges to the Nemasket River will be pushed almost to capacity with this project. Although the Tribe will pay for infrastructure improvements to the plant, the plant itself has a set discharge limit through its Federal NPDES permit. This means that Middleboro will most likely need permits and approval for all upgrades required to handle the discharge of up to 1 Million Gallons per day the proposed casino will discharge. The Nemasket River empties into the Taunton River and will receive this wastewater discharge. The Taunton River has been evaluated as impaired by the MADEP and the EPA and no one knows the condition of the Nemasket River at this point.
I wanted to point out something I read in a recent study done on the Taunton River Watershed regarding the City of Taunton’s NPDES re-permit request to increase in pollutant discharge from 8.4 MGD to 9 MGD. The EPA found that the segments of the river downstream are impaired, as is Mount Hope Bay, which receives the discharge of the Taunton River. The study goes on to say that any authorized increase can only be authorized in compliance with water quality standards…and as it has been shown previously, the Taunton River and Mount Hope Bay are not currently attaining water quality standards.
Here is where the report gets interesting:
“The Taunton Plant discharge is but one source of pollutants to a water body receiving numerous municipal discharges and industrial discharges, which all contribute to the noted water quality violations. In the absence of TMDL (total maximum daily limits) or other water quality information, we do not believe that an increase in any discharge to this watershed can be authorized.” - EPA NPDES pemit
The report then lists the 12 municipal wastewater dischargers to the Taunton River and the design flow for those facilities – yes, Middleboro is on that list. It then states the following about design flows for upstream facilities and overall discharge to the watershed….
”While the actual wastewater discharge volume during critical low flow periods will be lower than the design discharge volume, it is clear that this is an effluent dominated watershed.”
So in my opinion, it is quite clear from this report that what we do here does have far reaching impacts to other areas and employing the ideology of manifest destiny by displacing and relocating threatened species – federally recognized or not- somewhere else, doesn’t guarantee their protection. Impacts from the proposed casino will know no boundaries - they will be felt far beyond that 550 acre parcel of land. The watershed is impacted now without a mega resort casino and building one at the proposed site will only make the situation more critical for us, the watershed and for the critters. So yeah, I guess you can say that I am a bit of an environut – but not about everything…only those things that will severely impact our region, and the wildlife we share this region with. Sorry, but I just don’t think it is right to further endanger an endangered species – or a species of special concern, so people can gamble. It is irresponsible. I side with the turtles.
- be the change you want to see in the world-
1 comment:
You have reminded me of a lengthy speech Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. gave in which he pointed out that the acid rain and mercury pollution from coal-fired power plants had sterilized lakes, killed forests, and the poor air quality caused his children to have asthma attacks.
He spoke of the environment being unfit for animal habitation that was also unfit for human habitation.
It might seem that even those who aren't tree huggers might figure out that there's a connection to what we dump in the Nemasket and plunder in surrounding watersheds.
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