Suuberg's Decision

Dear FRRACS Member,

We are, once again, sorry to be giving you not-so-good tidings just before a holiday weekend. You would think that we would all be accustomed to it by now but that does not stop us from feeling that little twinge of PTSD at every holiday eve!

Yesterday afternoon, DEP Commissioner Martin Suuberg released his non-decision on the Ch. 91 Waterways remand recommendation of Adjudicator Jane Rothchild. You might recall from a prior mailing that Ms. Rothchild finally gave us a thoughtful and positive decision on this permit matter. Leave it to the Commissioner to mess that up!

In every other decision made by Rothchild in every single appeal that FRRACS has filed before the Office of Appeals and Dispute Resolution (OADR) at the DEP, Suuberg has rubber stamped her decision within days. Her decision this time was the very first time that she agreed with us in our appeal, and he took over 45 days to, basically, circumvent Rothchild's recommendations. In his non-decision, Suuberg states, "I am deferring making a final decision whether to adopt, modify, or reject the Presiding Officer's finding." I.e., he is kicking the can down the road until at least next spring according to our attorney's reading of the schedule. (We will send you the document under separate cover.)

Suuberg has also left the door open for Enbridge to be able to regain their full Ch. 91 permit by doing an end run around the water dependency issue. Much like allowing Bob Kraft to build a soccer stadium at the site of the old Edison Plant in Everett, the DEP and Coastal Zone Management (with help from the legislature, sadly) are playing fast and loose with the coastal waterways regulations at a time of rising seas and climate disaster. Not very smart in our estimation! Also, this is a greater move to give the natural resources of our coastal home to the control of the corporations--something that the regulations were put in place to stop.

Our coastal home belongs to the people, not the polluters. We will continue to fight, with your help, for as long as we are able.

Join us for our monthly meeting on Tuesday, September 13 beginning at 7:00 for further discussion on this and other issues and events!

In the meantime, please enjoy your end-of-summer weekend, enjoy our coastal resources as much as you can, and we'll see you soon!

In Solidarity,
The FRRACS Team