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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCanoe River Comm 05/02/1991MINUTES OF THE CANOE RIVER AQUIFER ADVISORY COMMITTEE ,, - Minutes of the meeting held by the Canoe River Aquifer Advisory Committee on ,May ?, 1991, in the Selectmen's Room, Town Hall, 40 south Street, Foxborough,, Ma t Members and guests in attendance: Joan Sozio Foxborough Shirley Davenport Sharon Charlotte Stiefel Barnstable Leslie Luchonok Department John Grant Easton Wayne Southworth Easton Edward Tartufo Mansfield Dick Lewis Mansfield Kathy Romero Norton John Fresh, Jr. Easton Suzanne Erickson Norton Timothy Higgins Foxborough County Health Department of Environmental Management I. Call to Order Mr. Southworth called the meeting to order at 1:05 p.m. A motion was made by Shirley Davenport and seconded by John Grant to approve the minutes of April 4, 1991. It was so voted. Later in the meeting Tim Higgins moved to amend the minutes to correct the name Susan Fering to Susan Tierney. It was so moved. Kathy Romero discussed the agenda for the Canoe River Spring Awareness Day. Guest speakers will be Maria Van Dusen from the Division of Fisheries Wildlife and Environmental Law Enforcement and Commissioner Webber, who will step in for Susan Tierney, Secretary of Environmental Affairs, who is unable to attend. There will also be a hovercraft demonstation and an aquatic weed harvester demonstration. Some committee members have volunteered in helping to provide refreshments. Over 200 invitations to the event have been sent out inviting persons who have shown an interest in CRAAC. Eighty one of these invitations, as well as, a thank you letter were sent to persons and organizations who wrote a letter of support for the ACEC designation. Leslie Luchonok was present from the Department of Environmental Page 2 Management (DEM). Mr. Luchonok said that we would receive an announcement soon regarding the decision on the ACEC designation. There were eighty one letters of support and no negative comments about CRAAC's application. Certificates from DEM regarding the designation will be handed out on May 18 at the Spring Awareness Day to each member town and to CRAAC. Representatives from each of the towns were asked to invite the chairman of the Board of Selectmen to be present at the Spring Awareness Day to accept the certificate for their town. Mr. Luchonok said that DEM would provide press releases to the local newspapers regading the ACEC. He will send Wayne a copy of the draft, so the committee could add any additional information. Mr. Luchonok then went on to discuss the final boundary delineation of the ACEC. Upon review of the information presented, DEM felt that there should possibly be a decrease in the size of the area in the towns of Easton, Mansfield and Norton, but first wanted input from the committee. After reviewing the proposed changes, the members from the affected towns felt that the boundaries in their towns should remain as proposed because of the significance in resources in these areas. Mr. Luchonok said that he would then recommend keeping the original boundaries. IV. Charlotte Stiefel - Underground Storage Tanks Charlotte Stiefel, an environmental program specialist, from the Barnstable County Health and Environmental Department spoke to us about regulating underground heating oil storage tanks. She had received grant monies from the Environmental Protection Agency to study the problem of leaking tanks that contained fuel oil. Ms. Stiefel handed out the following information regarding her work: "Barnstable County Health and Environmental Department Model Board of Health Bylaw," "Regulation and Testing of Residential Underground Fuel Storage Tanks," and "Evaluation of Local Regulatory Efforts in Identifying and Controlling the Threat of Underground Storage Tanks." She then spoke on the topic with regard to her experiences. Ms. Stiefel spoke on how thirteen of the fifteen Cape Cod towns passed the model bylaw and how through this regulation and with the help of the local fire departments the County Health Department was able to locate over 3000 underground storage tanks on the Cape. Each tank was registered and tagged, and all tanks over the age of fifteen were required to be tested using a vapor monitoring well. Page 3 The cost of installing a monitoring well near an underground tank is approximately $150,00. A portable GC for testing was purchased by the health department, so they could do the testing inexpensively for $35.00. Once thelesting program got underway, many tank owners chose to have their tank removed instead. Over 45% of the registered tanks have been removed so far. The ultimate goal is to have all tanks removed, V. Reappointments and Summer Meeting Schedules Each year one representative from each member town is up for reappointment. This year's members are Wayne Southworth (Easton), Deborah Graham (Mansfield), Kathy Romero (Norton), Dan lagatta (Foxborough), and Shirley Davenport (Sharon). A letter has been sent to the Board of Selectmen and Town Clerk of each town regarding the appointments. With regards to the summer schedule, a motion was made by John Grant and seconded by Dick Lewis that the committee not meet during the month of July It was so moved. VI. Old Business Wayne Southworth and Tim Higgins participated in the Taunton River Basin Conference, which was sponsored by SERPED. Tim provided information about CRAAC, and Wayne paritcipated on a panel concerning the Water Management Act, V. New Business Wayne Southworth mentioned a Groundwater Protection Workshop that he would be participating in tonight at Bridgewater State College. CRAAC received a letter from Secretary Tierney regarding grants for conservation. Sue Erikson mentioned that the Land Trust Coalition was working through the Easton NRT to purchase land in Easton that was in the Canoe River Aquifer. CRAAC received a letter from Community & Environmental Defense Associates, a consulting firm, offering their services regarding land purchases. Meetin adjourned at 2:30 p.m.